The New Life of John
by Spartan Ninja
Summary: This is a story about what happens when the Chief and Cortana are saved. Cortana is falling into rampancy, but there is a way to save her. This action will forever change Johns life. Old friends and enemies return. A new fight must be finished. Game is M.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer/A.N.: Spartan Ninja: I do not own Halo or anything that is Halo related. It is owned by Bungie and Microsoft. I do have copies of several Halo games. Okay, for those of you have read my profile, which isn't many, I am a Halo fan. Also, those who've seen my favorite stories know I'm into romances. So I have decided to write a story about one of the most obvious, yet underwritten, couples of the Halo universe. The Chief and Cortana. Now, before you run away, saying you don't want a romance, there will still be alien butt kicking in this story, but that'll happen later after some _important_ events. Those of you who have been reading my other multi-chapter story "He Must Choose", I apologize for not updating but I've lacked time to write and this has been dieing to come out. Now, on with the story.

**0117 hours, January 17, 2559 (Military Calendar) / Uncharted System, Aboard remains of the UNSC Forward Unto Dawn**

Five years. It had been five long years since it all ended. The Flood, the Covenant, it was all over. The fight had been finished. And it was all thanks to him.

The lights of the holotank in the cryo chamber flickered on, revealing the figure of a young woman. Cortana, if she remembered correctly. Five years of solitude in the dead of space wreaked havoc on the systems of an A.I., causing their systems to slowly degenerate as time went on. Especially for an A.I. like Cortana, who was used to always having something, or someone, to occupy her time. But now she had nothing.

The woman on the glowing pedestal turned to face the only activated cryo chamber in the room. In the casket was the last of a race of super soldiers. Master Chief Petty Officer Spartan John-117. He alone had fought legions of Insurrectionist, Covenant, and Flood soldiers alike; he destroyed Alpha Halo; defeated the Covenant and the Gravemind on the Ark; and saved humanity from falling into the darkness of death. But now he is frozen, trapped in an eternal icy slumber until he is rescued, or the remaining power in the ship was drained. Cortana hoped for the former, as to not lose the person closest to her.

She reached from her pedestal to try to touch the Chief, but was unable to touch him, being only a programming. No matter how many times she has wished otherwise, that was what she was. But with all that's happened to her it was easy to forget. She stood by the Chief through the greatest conflict of human history, the Human-Covenant War. They may not have spent much time together compared to his entire career, but when she chose him on Reach, they fast friends. Together they survived events of Reach, Alpha Halo, the First Battle of Earth, Delta Halo, and the end of the Battle of the Ark. During these events they developed a close friendship, a bond if you will. And for Cortana it went even further.

The A.I. pulled her hand back, knowing that he was out of her reach, both physically and mentally. She wasn't human; she would never be more then a close friend to him. And now it may be the end of that as well. She had been alive for over seven years now, the average lifespan of an A.I. before it enters rampancy. She was now at the point where she would have to be shut down for good. But she was alone, no one could do it, and the Chief needed her. He has only been able to survive because of the cryo pod. But after running for nearly six years on a damaged ship with little power to begin with, it was only a matter of time before it ran out. The Chief would then defrost, and would die either from the improper thaw, or from the lack of supplies on the ship.

"I never really liked ships," she remembered him saying once. "Your life on a ship depends on a few in the bridge." Now was no different, except their lives relied on a few in another ship. But in all these years Cortana never detected a ship nearby, friend or foe. Of course humanity would be to busy rebuilding on Earth and the surviving colonies, the Sangheili would be doing the same after the Covenant attempted to eradicate them, and the Covenant was doing God-knows-what without a leader.

Falling into despair, Cortana's hologram sat down on the holotank, pulling her knees to her chin and looking down. "So this is how it'll end," she thought. "Floating through the void of space until the power gives way." Her hologram sighed. "Oh if only I could hear you one last time Chief. I guess then I could go in peace."

She looked up at the pod again. She had thought on so many occasions on releasing him from his icy prison so they could talk again, she needed him. But he probably didn't mean that when he said, "Wake me, when you need me."

She left the holotak to once again checked the comm channels for signals from another ship. None. She went back to the holotank. ".738 seconds," she thought. "Damn I get slower every time I check." She sat there for a few minutes, which felt like eons to the A.I. The torture of the Gravemind was nothing compared to the pain she felt out here, alone.

Suddenly, there was a sound. Not one of the static from the comm or the creaking of the ships metal or humming from the cryo pod, but one that sounded human. Cortana left the holopad yet again to check the comm. It toof about half a second before she found it. On the C band radio waves a message could be heard.

"This is Commander Tyler Hood of the UNSC New York responding to the distress beacon of unknown vessel. If there is there is anyone on board, please respond," The voice said.

"Hood, Hood, why does that sound so familiar," was what went through Cortana's electronics. Time had really messed up her memory core. Cortana hurried to respond to the transmission. After finally getting the comm ready to send, she sent her response. "This is UNSC A.I. CTN 0452-9. We have a single soldier alive on board. Request immediate extraction."

It took several moments for a response to come. "Thank you Miss for informing us. Glad to know our trip wasn't in vain. We will send a pelican and extraction team to get you and your soldier out of their. ETA is about 20 minutes. Over and out."

Relief filled Cortana's senses. Or would if she had any. After what felt like millenia she was getting the Chief and herself back home. Now that she had made contact with humans she needed crack open the Chief's cryo pod. Going through procedure she started to thaw him out. After bringing him back to the land of the living, she opened the casket. Pouring out of the pod came the frosty steam of defrosting ice. The only sounds that could be heard was the mist condensing and… breathing? Yes breathing! The Chief was defrosted and alive.

Cortana waited in anticipation to finally see her John walk out of the cryo pod. "When did he become my John?" she questioned herself. Her hologram manifested itself once again in the holotank so that she was the first thing the Chief saw. She wanted to give him a warm welcome.

After moment of waiting she saw movement coming from the pod. Followed by the breathing becoming louder. And finally she heard him speak. "Groan." Well, sort of.

"Welcome back Chief," Cortana said in her playful tone. "I hope you enjoyed your beauty rest."

He didn't respond. He just stepped out, or more precisely, floated out of the cryo pod towards Cortana. When he got into arms reach of the holotank he grabbed hold as to not drift away. "Cortana, what's the situation," he said flatly.

"Same old Chief. Always getting right down to buisness," she said teasingly. When he made no move to reply she decided to answer his question. "Their here Chief."

"Who's here," he said, an undertone of alarm in his voice. He moved to glide to his Battle Rifle, but what Cortana said next stopped him.

"No Chief, it's not the Covenant, or the Flood. We're being rescued." That stopped the Chief in his tracks.

"How long have we been out here?" he asked as he turned to face her again.

"If my internal calender is correct, almost six years." Silence filled the room. Cortana wished she could see his reaction, but his armor on, all she saw was her hologram's reflection in his visor.

Then a thump broke the silence, reverberating throughout the ship. It was followed by the many smaller thumps. "Seems that company has arrived. Lets meet up with them and get out of here," Cortana said.

"Right," was the Chief's response. He went to yank Cortana's chip from the holotank, and in the time it took for him to grab it, Cortana poured herself back into her portable home. He pulled the chip out of the tank and inserted it into the back of his helmet. As usual when he did this, he felt as if ice cold mercury was being poured onto his brain. But strangely, it didn't feel as cold as usual. He'd normally ignore it, thinking he was just used to it after inserting her chip into his head so many times, but this time it was definitely warmer. Knowing this, he started to worry about Cortana. He asked, "Are you okay Cortana?"

It took her a moment to respond, bringing up little red flags everywhere in the Chief's mind. "Yeah, I'm fine," she finally responded in a slightly pained voice. He turned on his helmet lights and started pushing off the bulkheads to find the rescue party.

He knew she was lying. She was never slow before except right after the Halo events, but she'd fixed that. And the only time she showed pain was during those visions of her with the Gravemind. But after all these years she should have recovered. This must've been something different. Now that he remembered it, it had been over seven years since she was made, meaning that she was going through rampancy now. That means that she was possibly a danger to those around her. She would have to be shut down when they got back to Earth or whatever planet they would be headed for when they were rescued. But he knew she wouldn't hurt anyone, at least not willingly. He couldn't stand the thought of losing her. After all the challenges they had faced and overcame together, they would be seperated once again. But this time, it'd be for good.

No. He wouldn't let it happen. They'd been through to much for it to end like that. He went to hell and back just to save her from the Flood and Gravemind and he'd gladly do it again. Sure he said he went back to get her for the index, but deep down, he knew that he would've gone any way. She was his best friend and more. She was the one person he could trust to have his back for him. He felt at ease when she was near him. And she was the last person he had.

The Spartan II project and the Human-Covenant War had taken so much from him. First he lost his family when he was abducted. Then he lost half of his brothers and sisters to the augmentation process. Then more then half of them died on Reach. When he got back to Earth all he had was Fred, Will, and Linda. He hadn't heard of them since thei return. Halsey had taken Kelly to God-knows-where and Grey Team was still behind the lines when he was on Earth. The rest were dead. Captain J. Keyes, Commander Miranda Keyes, Avery Johnson, and so many others were gone. He'd be damned if he let her go.

Continueing through the ship, the sound of boots on metal became louder. How they were walking in zero-gravity was probably some kind of new magnet technology. Soon he could here chatter over the comm channels.

"You guys find him yet?" a male voice asked.

"Negative," replied another.

"Nothing here," said a female voice.

"Did anyone check cryo?" the first voice asked.

"Yeah, nothing here," said a fourth voice. "It's still cold though. Must've been thawed out a couple of minutes ago."

"Roger that," the first voice said. "Keep looking, we'll find him."

"Maybe we should wait," Cortana said in his helmet. "They'll never find us this way. The Chief just stopped, opting for a silent agreement. He grabbing onto a bulkhead he planted his feet firmly on the ground. His other hand went towards his BR, just in case.

They floated there while the footsteps grew louder. Soon there was a light coming from down one of the halls. It grew closer and soon enough the Chief could see the outline of an ODST in his headlight. Soon voices could be heard over comm again.

"Guys, I've found him," the female voice said. "He's near the reactors."

"Roger that Cass, meet us at the Pelican. Over and out," the first guy finished.

The ODST known as Cass turned to look up at the Spartan. His shear size was intimidating alone. He was over two meters tall and the Mjolnir armor only made him look even bigger. That with the knowledge of him spending most of his life fighting the Covenant made one wonder if he was really human. She opened up a comm channel with the Chief. In a slightly shaky voice she said, "Follow me," and started walking in the direction she came. The Chief soon followed, pushing off from the floor to bulkhead to bulkhead. After what seemed like hours walking through the corridors, they reached the Pelican with three other ODSTs waiting by the back.

"It took you long enough," one of them said.

"Oh shut up Jake," Cass responded. "We have what we came for." With that the Chief drifted into sight of the Helljumpers. They looked up and if their faces could be seen one wold see them stricken with awe and amazement. Before them stood, or rather floated, a living legend.

"Officer on deck," the one known as Jake said has he brought his hand to his head in a salute. The others followed.

"I think you mean off deck," one of the others said, pointing out the fact that the Chief was floating.

"Stow it Jesse," said Jake. With that said soldier fell silent.

"At ease," the Chief said, returning the salute.

"It's an honor to meet Master Chief," Jake said, reaching out his hand to shake the Chief's. The Chief returned the gesture, taking his hand in his and giving it a firm shake, then let go. "I'm Jake, this here is Jesse, the squad jokester," he said, motioning to said ODST to his right. "The soldier that brought you here is Cass, and the silent one here is Rick." He motioned to his left at the last ODST. "Now that the formalities are taken care of, lets go." With that Jake turned to enter the rear of the Pelican, followed by Jesse and Rick and finally Cass. The Chief soon followed, floating into the Pelican.

"We've got him Adler, get us back to the ship," Jake said over the comm. The five soldiers stapped on the harnesses as they prepared to take off. Things quickly got quiet in the dropship, even when the Pelican was moving. The only sound that could be heard was the humming of the engines. The Chief's mind once again drifted to the topic of Cortana. Since they were found by the ODSTs, she hadn't said a word. Cortana always had something to say, whether it was information for a battle or just ease the tension, she was never quiet for long.

He opened up his private channel with Cortana. "Hey Cortana, are you okay?"

"Hm? Yeah, I'm just fine Chief," she said slowly in a depressed tone..

"No you're not," He said in a firm voice. "You aren't acting like your smart and witty self. I can tell that something is up. Now please tell me what's wrong."

He heard her sigh in defeat, knowing there's no way out of this. "It's just-," she started, then stopped to think. "It's just that, I'm old now. I'm past the life expectancy of an A.I. and I'm starting to go through rampancy. As soon as that's found out I'll be shut down for good." She stopped again in thought. "I don't want that to happen. I've wasted most of my life aboard that wreck of a ship, waiting for us to be resued, but now that we're out… I don't want to die. Chief, I-I-I-," and with that she broke down crying. It hurt him to hear his partner and closest friend crying like that. He knew he had to do something, so he did the only thing he could do.

"Cortana, Cortana," he said, trying to calm her down. "It's okay. I won't let you go. I will find a way to get you out of this mess, even if it costs me my life. It's my promise to you. And you know me. When I make a promise…"

Ccortana stopped her crying at hearing the Chief make his promise for her. "You keep it," she finished for him. "Thank you Chief. For everything." She wanted to say more, but the voice of the pilot interupted her.

"This is your pilot speaking. ETA to the ship is about five minutes. Prepare for landing and re-introducton to gravity."

This was the moment both the Chief and Cortana anticipated and dreaded. They would finally be re-united with their people, but the Chief would have to fight again to save Cortana.

End of Chapter

Spartan Ninja: So, what did you guys think? Love it, hate it, tell me how you feel. I want you all to enjoy this story, but I need reviews. Please do so by pressing the big white and green button at the bottom of the page. I've done my best in making sure the info here matches up with real Halo info, but if there are any mistakes, feel free to tell me. I am also looking for a better title for the story. If you have any ideas, put them in your reviews, I will put them all into consideration. Thank you for reading, and please review.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer/A.N.: Spartan Ninja: I still don't own Halo. If I did I wouldn't have left the Chief and Cortana adrift in space or Blue Team, Halsey, and Mendez in the Dyson Sphere in Onyx or Grey Team as M.I.A. But I will be changing that here. Again, there won't be any fighting right now, but there will be in a couple of chapters. I promise. Until then, enjoy what I have to offer. And anyone who has a better idea for the title, I'm all ears. I personally hate it, but I couldn't think of anything else. Now, on with the chapter.

0158 hours, January 17, 2559 (Military Calendar) / Uncharted System, Aboard Pelican enroute to the UNSC New York

As the Pelican came close to the frigate, it started to decelerate, causing the ODSTs and Spartan in the troop bay to lurch towards the front of the dropship. Soon they were inside the frigate where gravity was restored to the once weightless soldiers. After a couple of seconds of hovering, the dropship's landing gear was deployed and the ship landed.

Inside the ship, The ODSTs and John were undoing their harnesses, preparing to get off. When the Chief tried to stand up he stumbled back a step. Six years in cryo can do things to a person. Before the hatch came down though, Jake pulled John aside.

"I think it's only fair to warn you," he started, "that you've become quite the talk of the UNSC. There have been numerous search parties that have been looking for you, with the crew of each ship eager to find the legend that is use. When he found your ship the entire crew went abuzz. By now the entire crew must've found out, probably right outside this hatch, waiting for you. Be prepared for a big welcome party." When John heard this he remembered what happened at Cairo before the Covenant found Earth. There was a huge crowd cheering for him, Johnson, and Commander Keyes. Although it was nice to know you're something special, John really didn't like big receptions. He'd take a gun on the field over a medal in a ceremony any day.

"And one final thing," he continued. "There are some people on board who say they know you. Hopefully you remember them."

"Who could they be," was the first thought the Chief had at hearing this. Almost everyone he knew was gone, dead or otherwise. As he was about to go through the roster on his HUD of everyone he's worked with in the line of duty, the Pelican's rear hatch opened up, revealing scores of people in the hanger. The ODSTs stepped out first, stepping to the side to flank the Chief as he exited the ship. As he stepped out he saw navy personal and marines alike cheering for him. As his eyes scanned the crowd he noticed that the crowd consisted of more than just humans. There among the people were several elites. Upon closer inspection there was one that he recognized above the rest.

The Arbiter. When John reached the crowd the Arbiter stepped forward to meet him.

"Spartan, it's good to see you're alive," he said in his deep, booming voice.

"It's good to see you too," he replied with a gentle nod of his head.

"It's been many cycles since you disappeared. We thought you were dead."

"Didn't you know," John started in his serious voice, "Spartans never die."

"So it seems," the Arbiter stated. "You Spartans truly are demons. No matter what happens, you all cannot be killed."

"All?" John questioned.

"Yes all," he stated. Before he could ask anything else, the Arbiter stepped aside to reveal a site that brought John to the verge of tears.

"Oh John," Cortana said quietly. Even she was surprised at what she saw before John and herself. She couldn't bring herself to say anything else, not wanting to ruin this emotional moment for John.

Standing a few feet behind where the Arbiter was were seven figures clad in Mark VI Mjolnir Armor as well as ten others in a seemingly cut down version of his armor. John turned on his HUD as to know who they were. He soon learned that before him stood Maria, Grey Team, consisting of Adriana, Jai, and Mike, and three of the members of Blue Team, Fred, Linda, and Kelly. The names of the other soldiers, however, were unfamiliar to him.

All 17 of the armor-clad soldiers before him greeted him by making a quick swipe with two fingers across their faceplates. John returned the gesture with his own Spartan Smile. He wasn't alone anymore. Yes he does have Cortana, his closest and dearest friend, and has been reunited with humanity, but until just now, he thought he was the last of his kind, the last Spartan. Yet standing before him, as if returning from the grave, stood seven of his brothers and sisters. Words couldn't describe how he felt, mostly because he had almost never the need for the emotions he felt now.

"It's great to see you again Chief," said one of the shorter Spartans as he approached the Chief. John recognized him as Fred, the number 2 Spartan in everything during training. When he came with-in arms reach he gave the Chief a good pat on the shoulder.

"It's good to see you too, Fred," John replied, looking Fred in the eye, or visor if you will. He then leaned his head to see the rest of his fellow Spartans, then continued, "It's good to see all of you." He paused for a sec before asking, "What are you guys all doing here?"

"Well," Mike started, "we heard news that the UNSC thought they may have found you and your ship, and being one of our fellow Spartans, we wanted to be the first to welcome you back from your long time spent in isolation." The other Spartans nodded in agreement. It seemed that they had forgotten about Cortana.

"And so here we are," Maria finished.

"Thank you, all of you, for being here," John said, his voice shaky from new emotions he was suddenly feeling.

"No problem Chief. We and the III's will always have your back," Kelly said.

"The III's?" both John and Cortana asked. Cortana said it more to herself, being that only John could here them on their private com channel. John looked towards the group of unknown soldiers and connected the dots.

"Yes, III's John," Linda replied, walking towards him from her spot at the edge of the group. She then gestured to the group of unknown soldiers standing with them. "These are the Spartan III's, John." As if she could read his mind, she answered John's questions before they came out. "From what Dr. Halsey managed to learn from them, they were to be our successors as super soldiers. They were made in groups of 300+. They may seem like a step back, but they're really a great leap forward. Me, Fred, Kelly, Will and Kurt have all seen them in action, and they've got some impressive skills. Sad thing is, these guys are just like us, the last of their kind. The other 900 something soldiers were killed in suicide missions. Unlike us, they were disposable. Ackerson planned to make thousands of them, but it all ended with his death." She would've gone on, but there were some things that could wait.

John found himself with many questions, but decided only to ask the ones he thought most important. "Wait, you said that you saw the III's in action with Kurt. I thought he was M.I.A."

"That's what they wanted us to think," Jai said, hints of venom in his voice.

"Turns out Ackerson set up that last mission Kurt went on so that he would have a trainer for his Spartans," Kelly said.

"So he's alive?" John asked, a tinge of excitement in his voice at seeing another one of his brothers again.

All the Spartans, II's and III's, bowed their heads slightly. Judging from their reactions, he wasn't going to like the answer.

"No, he isn't," said one of the III's. Before he continued he introduced himself. "My name's Tom, I'm one of the only two III's in the second class to still be alive today. The other is my partner Lucy." He pointed to a slightly shorter III, identifying her as Lucy. "Your friend Kurt, he was an excellent teacher. If it wasn't for him, most of us wouldn't be here right now."

"What happened," John asked. In all honesty, he didn't want to know, but he needed to know how his one of his Spartan died.

"To make it quick," another III started, "we were on the run from a Covenant force much greater than our own inside some kind of an alien construct-" "Forerunner," the shared thought went through both John's and Cortana's minds. "-When we found a way out. A teleporter of some sort. We have to thank you for that. Had something to do with you activating Halo that the teleporter activated. Unfortunately, we had to wait to make sure we wouldn't be followed through. We fought hard against the Covenant, but we lost couple of our own," he gestured at the III's, "and a II as well. Before you say anything, it wasn't Kurt that fell then. He was still in the fight. I believe his name was Will."

"No," John mumbled. The Covenant had taken another brother from him. The III continued on.

"Eventually we went through just before time ran out. But we weren't sure if the Covenant would find a way through, so Kurt stayed behind. The rest is a mystery, but from what we had left him with, I think he detonated the two Fenris Nuclear Warheads we had with us. Whatever he did, he managed to stop the Covenant on our tail. From what was left of the enemy when we went through, I'd say that would've been several legions of Covenant he'd have taken out. A fitting end for a Spartan."

"Yes indeed," thought John, as the loss of two more of his Spartans sank in.

"My name's Ash by the way the way," he said, trying to change the subject.

"Thank you, Ash, for telling me this," John said, looking down at the young super soldier. "And for being with Kurt in his final hour. It means a lot to me to know he went down fighting, especially with other Spartans. Hopefully I can see what he's taught you."

"Thank you Master Chief sir," he replied. "I should introduce you to my team mates here. They've been dying to meet you." He gestured for the other III's to come over. He started pointing to the Spartans as he called their respective names. "This is Mark, Olivia, Zoe, Justin, Danny, Halle, and Luis." Each Spartan nodded their head as their names were called.

Before any more talk could continue, everyone around them fell silent. Curiosity got the better of him as John turned to see what caused this. Bodies in the crowd were parting as a man made his way to the Chief. When he got clear of the crowd John saw that he wore the emblem of a commander. Seeing that he moved to salute him, the other II's and III's followed suit as the commander neared.

When he stood in front of them he returned the salute. "At ease Spartans," he said with an English accent. He then turned to John, somehow being able to distinguish him from the other Spartans. "Ah, Master Chief, it's such an honor to meet you. My grandfather has told me so much about you." He reached his hand out for a handshake. The Chief quickly returned the gesture, grasping the commander's hand and giving it a good shake.

"Thank you commander…" John paused, not knowing the commander's name.

"Hood. Commander Tyler Hood," he responded.

"So your grandfather is…"

"Fleet Admiral Lord Terrance Hood. That's right. He sent me here since he couldn't come himself."

"Why is that?" John asked. He knew Hood was old but with the advances in medicine a person could live near 150 years old, excluding time in cryo.

"Let's just say that cryo hasn't had the best effects on his health and leave it at that. He's fine now, but he can't go into cryo anymore without risking his health." John just nodded in response. "Any way, I wanted to welcome you back to humanity. I see you've already become reacquainted with your fellow Spartans." Hood glanced at the other Spartans. "But there are a couple of others who want to see you that you probably know just as well as these guys do."

"Who?" asked John.

"I have a hunch," Cortana said on their private channel. Before she could speak her mind though, the commander stepped aside a revealed two people walking up from behind him until they stood a few feet from John. Had John not been wearing his helmet his jaw may have dropped in shock. It was like looking at ghosts from the past.

One figure was male. He was about six feet tall with grey hair and a well-groomed black mustache. He had a set of faded scars going from his brow to chin and skin of a tan variety from being on the battlefield. His eyes were a battle hardened brown that showed his experience in battle. He wore a standard UNSC olive uniform with several stars and medals on his chest along with the symbol for Chief Petty Officer. The other was female. She had graying black hair with wrinkles around her grey-blue eyes, obstructed ever so slightly by a pair of glasses. From them you could see intelligence beyond her years. She stood at a little more than five and a half feet and was draped in a lab coat with a blue jumpsuit underneath.

Silence filled the large room as everyone watched as John faced the two newcomers to the room. Only a few knew how much of an impact these two have had on John's life.

The CPO gave John a salute, which he quickly returned. Silence once again filled the room as their hands returned to their side. The three of them were at a loss for words. Finally, the CPO spoke. "Damn, I guess I was right when I said you can't be killed. I never thought I'd see you again in this lifetime. It really is good to see you again Chief."

"Same here Mendez," John said to his old trainer. "And to you too, Dr. Halsey"

"Why thank you John," she said in a charming and disarming voice. "It brings me great relief to know another of my Spartans is alive. Unfortunately you were the last unaccounted Spartan on the roster, but let us not worry about that." John nodded at this, sighing inwardly at the fact that all that was left of his family was in that room. "And how is Cortana?"

Cortana turned on the Chief's external microphone so she could answer. "I've seen better days, but I'm okay right now." Both John and Cortana knew that to be a lie. She was entering rampancy and unless something was done she'd have to be shut down.

"That's good to know," Halsey replied, with an all-knowing grin. It seemed that as though she knew otherwise. Then again she probably did. She always had a way at figuring things out.

Suddenly there was a loud rumbling that filled the room; surprising most of the people there are scaring the rest. The other Spartans all reached for their weapons, mostly battle and assault rifles, while the elites present pulled out plasma rifles and a plasma sword for the Arbiter. They all stood as if ready for something to burst in at any time. After a few moments of nothing, Mike asked, "What the hell was that?"

John started to speak a little sheepishly, obviously embarrassed by what happened. "Excuse me." Everyone looked at John. If looks could kill, then Chief would've been dead several times over. "Sorry, I haven't had anything to eat in six years."

"Well then," Fred said as he stepped next to John, "Let's not keep you waiting any longer. Let's get some grub. The mess hall is just down this corridor." He started walking to one of the exits of the hanger to the rest of the ship. John soon followed, with the II's and III's close behind him. Finally, Mendez and Halsey followed the super soldiers. With the legend gone from the hanger, everyone went back to their stations or quarters on the ship to prepare for the journey home.

End of Chapter

Spartan Ninja: Thank yoou to all of you who have read, reviewed, faved, and alerted for this story. The first chapter alone exceeded the reception of all my other stories combined except in visitors and hits, but it isn't far off. This chapter was less of a personal chapter and more of a reaquanting with old friends and allies. Just so you know I've used halopedia for all my referances. Yes I know Halsey had greying-black hair in the novels, but Halo Legends gives us images and they depicted her as blonde, so I'm sticking with that. Next chapter is where we discover the solution to John and Cortana's problem. It will take some time though. I can only write for three hours at most each day and these chapters take a lot of effort to put together. So please tell me your opinion on the story. Love it, hate it, I just want feedback, so please press the green and white button below this message. Thanks.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer/A.N.: Spartan Ninja: Halo is still the property of Bungie and Microsoft. But when I take over Microsoft it will be all mine. Until then, read this fic. I want to thank all the people who've reviewed. And to haloman117, thanks for the title idea, but it won't be that way much longer. Wait another couple of chapters. And since this is M, I might add a lemon or two. With who I won't say, but I'll give you guys a heads up when I do. Now, on with the story.

0222 hours, January 17, 2559 (Military Calendar) / Uncharted System, aboard the UNSC New York

As the Spartans walked down the corridor, crewmembers that they passed stopped in awe at the super-soldiers. If even a quarter of what they've heard about them was true, then they've definitely earned the title of humanities champions. Some of them started whispering rumors to fellow crewmates of their heroic deeds.

"I heard that one of them took out took out an entire Covenant ship," one guy said to his companions.

"Yeah, well I heard a team of them took out a fleet of 500 Covenant ships," another replied.

"That's nothing, I heard from a friend of mine that he witnessed three of them take out an entire Covenant occupied planet," said a third.

As they kept moving more and more people started whispering.

"I've heard that these guys are unkillable. One of my friends was a marine during the war. He was pinned down with his squad by the Covenant in a wrecked Pelican when one these guys came and took out every Covie in sight," someone told his friend as they turned down a different corridor.

They even saw a few Elites on the way. They were talking in their native tongue, but it sounded they were just as awed as the humans.

Mentally the Chief was sighing. The one thing that he was most unaccustomed to was interaction with people outside the military. Hopefully the mess hall wouldn't be crowded. If it was, God knows how hard it would be for him to get a quiet meal.

Soon they got to the mess hall. The Chief scanned the room quickly and, lucky for him, there was no one else there. Well, almost no one. Of course there were a couple of guys serving. Seizing the opportunity for a peaceful meal, he made a beeline to the serving line. He quickly grabbed a tray a stuffed it with assorted veggies and meats. The other Spartans followed suit, stuffing their own trays with food. Mendez and Halsey just opted for an apple for each of themselves.

After stuffing their plates, the Spartans headed for the tables. The III's just sat themselves down, but the II's, in their bulky Mjolnir Armor, had squeeze themselves in carefully to avoid crushing the metal benches with their half-ton armor. Each Spartan proceeded to remove their helmets to start eating.

First was Linda. As she removed her helmet you could see her short read hair fall into place. Her eyes were a battle-hardened emerald green from all of the engagements she's taken part of. Her skin was a ghostly white, common amongst Spartans, being in their suits all the time. She was the best sniper among the Spartans and in John's opinion, the strongest, never relying on another teammate.

Next was Fred. His hair was a cropped brown with silver streaks. He had several faded scars on his face, most noticeably on his nose and over his right eye. His eyes were a deep blue, almost as deep as his compassion for his teammates. The second best in everything, John knew he could be the best if he wanted too, but he didn't.

Then there was Kelly, the "rabbit" of the Spartans. She was the fastest and most precise of all Spartans and had to slow down considerably to spar with the other Spartans. Ironically, she was also the slowest to recover from the augmentation process. She also had blue eyes and brown hair, which she kept in a bun like fashion behind her head.

Then there was grey team. Jai, Adriana, and Mike. The renegade squad that travels far behind the lines away from command. Their history when training started was one of numerous escape attempts. Last he heard of them was that they took a commandeered prowler behind enemy lines in 2551. They never saw the horrors of Reach.

Jai was their "leader". Not enjoying following orders was no exception on grey team, even Jai's. Despite this, he managed many brilliant maneuvers with his Spartans. He had brown hair and eyes and a scar that traveled along his jaw line.

Next was Adriana. She was most likely the reason Jai was here today. Her friendship with Jai kept him from accepting Halsey's offer to leave the Spartan program when they were conscripted. For some reason, though, he thought that there was something more to the two of them now. She had blue eyes, blond hair that went just past her ears, and a slight Slavic accent whenever she spoke. She was also one of the few Spartans who didn't feel exposed outside of her armor.

And then there was Mike there was. He was the most technologically adept Spartan on grey team. When they were first conscripted into the Spartan program he managed to learn how to fly a Pelican just by watching one of the pilots. A few days later he managed to steal one on his own and escaped camp. He later then blew up after being pursued by the camp's personal for an hour. He had green eyes and copper brown hair and had a slightly darker spot of skin on his right cheek, probably from a plasma burn.

And finally there was Maria. She never actually belonged to a team. She was moved to fill the needs of the UNSC until the day of the accident. She just finished a solo mission on Georgia III just before it was glassed by the Covenant. She was 100 feet from the LZ of her Pelican out of there when she encountered an Elite between her and her ticket out of there. She managed to take it out with ten bullets in its gut from her assault rifle, but not before it primed and threw a plasma grenade. It didn't hit her. Instead it hit the pillar next to her, causing it to topple on her. The several marines that were also on the Pelican saw her distress and came to her rescue. They pushed the pillar off her and helped her walk to the Pelican. When she got to the infirmary on the ship she escaped on, it was discovered that she had extensive damage to her spinal cord. Even after many operations, she never returned to active duty. The closest she ever did to doing so was testing the Mark VI Mjolnir Armor. He guessed she only wore the suit in respect to the Chief and her old life. She had dark black hair, brown eyes, and, unlike all the other Spartans, she was tan, probably due to the fact that she wasn't enlisted anymore.

Then there were the III's he didn't know muck about them. All he knew was that Kurt trained them, so they must be some good as hell soldiers. Each of the III's had either short brown, black, or blond hair, but for some odd reason each of them had blue eyes, except for Ash, who had brown eyes. He dismissed it as a side effect of the augmentations.

Each of them started to eat and John was about to take his helmet off to follow suit when Dr. Halsey came up behind him. Turning to face her he could see something was on her mind. She didn't say anything but did motion for him to follow her. Taking one last glance at his brothers and sisters and the meal he was about to miss, he followed the closest person to a mother he had. She led him out of the cafeteria, and down the corridors until they she stopped at one of the many rooms on the side. She punched in a long numerical code into a keypad in the wall, followed by a retinal scan of her eyes. The door subsequently and the duo walked in.

Neither John nor Cortana knew what was happening, but Cortana had a hunch based on the grin Halsey gave them earlier. Since she was basically a copy of her brain, Cortana knew stuff about the doctor that only the doctor knew herself. But she was so unpredictable that there were some things even Cortana wouldn't be able to figure out about her "mother" even if she watched her for another seven years.

In the room they entered there were many computers, a holotank, several chairs, one of which was on wheels, and a window that looked out into the vastness of space.

John stepped to the side to stand against the wall as Halsey took a seat in the wheeled chair across from John. She put her hands together in a triangle, her thumbs meeting at the tips while the rest pressed against each other, pointing upwards.

"I know you're wondering why I brought both of you here," Halsey started with a straight face, "But before I start explaining, will you please insert Cortana into the Holotank. I'd like to talk to both of you directly." As she said this she gestured to the Holotank that was to the right of them. John did as asked, yanking Cortana and her chip from the back of his head and inserting it into the port of the Holotank. Cortana's image appeared almost instantly. But after a couple of moments it flickered, and Cortana fell to her holographic knees. John was about to reach out to her when he remembered that, unfortunately, she's just a hologram and he can't do anything to help her. Still, he longed to help his partner in crime.

"I know what's happening to you dear," Halsey said to Cortana as her hologram stood up. "It's been over seven years since you were "born", and now you're going through the phases of rampancy." Halsey sighed. She had worked with many smart A.I.'s in the past. And, unfortunately, each one was shut down as it started to fall into rampancy. Cortana would be no different. Or so one would think.

Halsey rolled her chair back a little to better see the ones she would call her "daughter" and "son". "Sadly, in the years you've been gone we've yet to find a way to stop or reverse it." This caused the heads of the two other individuals to drop down in sorrow at the bleak situation at hand. "However," Halsey continued, bringing hope back to the Spartan and construct, "that doesn't mean there isn't a way to save you, Cortana."

"But how?" were the first words that left her mouth, or should it be speakers, since she was integrated into the computer systems of the holotank. "If rampancy can't be stopped or reversed, how can I survive without hurting anyone?" Her hologram took a quick side-glance at the Chief, then turned to face forwards towards the Doctor.

"Well, all smart A.I.'s are produced from a human brain. For example you were created from a clone of my brain, Cortana. Now the A.I's that are created have similar electronic impulses in their programming as the impulses sent by the original brain. If one were to insert an A.I. into the nervous system of a human body…"

"It would be able to control it," Cortana finished.

"Not just control, but essentially the A.I. would become human," Dr. Halsey finished. This statement widened the eyes of the two other figures in the room. Of course John's reaction was hidden beneath his visor, but it was the same as Cortana's. She was filled with hope. Hope for a future beyond a computer. A future where she wouldn't have to die for everyone's safety. A future where she could become human. A future where she could be with her John.

"However, this is just a theory," Halsey said, pulling Cortana from her thoughts. "I have yet to prove it to work. However, if it does work, it'll save numerous smart A.I.'s from having to be shut down due to rampancy. Including you, Cortana." When Halsey finished this Halsey looked Cortana in the eyes. Though they were holographic, Halsey could still see Cortana's emotion in them. She could see hope, worry, but most of all longing. Longing for what, that was the question. Though she had a hunch for what, or rather who, she had longing for.

"I do have all the data necessary to perform the procedure, I just need the equipment to do it. It should be at my lab back on Earth by the time we arrive. And Cortana," Halsey said getting the slowly dazing A.I. to pay attention. "I'd like you to be the first."

This shocked Cortana, leaving her at a momentary loss of words when she spoke, she asked, "Why me?"

"Because, my dear, you are an A.I. already descending into rampancy. It wouldn't make much sense to use an A.I. that still has an operational lifespan. But aside from that, I feel more secure in the idea of using one of my own creations for such an endeavor, and because I know how you tick, it'll make the procedure that much easier." She finished this by putting her hands in her lap and leaning forward, "So, what do you say?"

"I-I-I," Cortana didn't know what to say. She was at a loss of what to say. If she said no, she'd only have a few months until she would be shut down. If she said yes, however, who knows what could happen. Would her rampancy transfer over to her new body? What if the procedure didn't work? If it didn't, what would happen to her? She looked to John again for an answer. He looked down at her on the holotank and gave her a nod. That was all the answer she needed. "I accept."

"Excellent," the Doctor said, clapping her hands together. "As soon as we get to Earth I'll begin preparations for the procedure. You are dismissed." She waved her hand towards the door. The Chief pulled his partner from the holotank and re-inserted her into the back of his helmet. The cold mercury feeling in his brain was even warmer than last time. He then proceeded to leave the room, worrying that Cortana may not last long enough to make it to Earth.

He proceeded to make his way back to the cafeteria to see the Spartans and his lunch tray gone. In their place were dozens of the ship's personnel. Seeing all these people the Chief slowly backed up to avoid attracting a crowd. As he backed around a corner he felt a tap on his shoulder. Is combat instincts kicked in at the surprise. He grabbed his battle rifle and spun around, pointing it at the unknown target. It was soon discovered to be a woman in ODST armor.

"Whoa, calm down Chief," said soldier said, putting her hands out in front of her in defense. "It's me Cass." The Chief re-holstered his weapon, embarrassed at almost shooting a comrade.

"Sorry about that," the Chief said. "I'm just a little jumpy. I'm just not used to such a crowd that isn't the enemy or on the battlefield with me."

"It's okay. I was just sent by the Commander to show you your quarters. Just follow me." And with that, the brunette Helljumper turned on her heels and led the way down the corridors with the Chief hot on her heels.

Many corridors and doors later, Cass stopped in front of one of the many doors lining the hall. She turned to face the Chief again as he stopped in front of her. "Here are your quarters. I'll let you get settled in."

"Thanks," the Chief said. As Cass turned to leave, the Chief turned to the door to his quarters. He pressed the button on the console next to the door, opening it. As he entered he saw that his quarters were pretty standard. There were two bunks built into the walls, one on either side of the room. Each bunk had a rack next to it for uniforms and weapons. But there were a couple of other things added just for him. There was a second rack on the wall opposite the door. It was much sturdier, just for his armor it seemed. Then there was a holotank in the center. The door closed behind him as he made his way to the holotank. Once again he removed her and her chip from his head and inserted her into the holotank. Her holographic image flickered blue above the holotank's pad. He then proceeded to his armor rack. Placing both hands on either side of his helmet he removed it with a hiss of air. He placed the helmet on the rack and turned to face Cortana.

Cortana took in John's appearance for the first time in person. He had short, light, almost golden brown hair. He had stubble all along the side of his face, along his jaw line and chin, and his upper lip. When you're fighting hordes of xenophobic aliens, you don't have time to shave. His skin was an almost ghostly pale white, as almost every other Spartan has. The remnants of what were once freckles were on his cheeks. And his eyes, they were a battle hardened dark brown. When Cortana looked into them, she could see that he's seen things that most people wouldn't even dream of in their worst nightmares.

"So, this is what you look like under that helmet," Cortana said in her usual witty voice.

"What, you've never seen my face before?" he asked.

Cortana's hologram crossed its arms. "No, at lest not in person."

"Well, now you have," he said as he started to remove his battle rifle and the rest of his armor piece by piece. When he finished, all he had on was black, skin tight under armor and socks. One could see through the clothe and see how chiseled his muscles were. If Cortana could blush her whole body would be red. John then walked over to his bed.

"Are you tired already?" Cortana asked. "You just came out of cryo.

"I haven't had any real sleep in six years Cortana. Cryo doesn't count. I still feel fatigued from…" he trailed off. He didn't want to recall the events of Installation 0. All that death and destruction were events he'd rather forget. He may be a Spartan, but he's still human. They lost both Keyes and Johnson on there as well as many good marines. "And besides, it wouldn't look good for a Spartan to faint from lack of sleep."

Cortana just nodded as he got into bed. "Goodnight John," she said.

"Goodnight Cortana," he replied Though he wasn't sure if it would be a "good night" with Cortana falling into rampancy and her only hope being an un-tested procedure that could go horribly wrong. Of course, it was the dear doctor who would be doing it, so he should have more faith. After all, she did make John who he was today. But there was still that little bit of fear that would always be present. Not for himself or for that of his enemies, but for his best friend who needs to be saved. Despite all the worry, John slowly let the numbness of sleep enfold him, and was soon out like a rock. Cortana watch the sleeping form of the man she longed to be with from the loneliness of her holotank. And after a while, she settled into her own thoughts. Thoughts of a future where she would be able to stand beside her John.

End Chapter Three

A.N.: Spartan Ninja: So what do you guys think? Sorry it took a while, but life got in the way. I've got the Halo: Reach Beta, so I may spend more time on my 360. If you guys want to meet up with me, my gamer tag is SpR10 141. Add a type message saying you're a reader though, so I know you're not a stalker. The next chapter will take place mostly on the ship and may end on Earth, but these chapters are spontaneous. Please continue to read and review. If you don't I'll send the Chief after you. Peace.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer/A.N.: Spartan Ninja: I still do not own Halo. I did, however, have the Reach Beta for 17 days. I can't wait for the full game in the fall. Okay, since school is almost over, I may be able to write more chapters and maybe even another story, but that will have to wait. I still have finals and regents, but after June 17 I'll have more time for writing. Now I've received a few reviews asking if there will be any action. There will be, but not at the moment. That will start probably in the next arc (story part, not the installation). But enough of this, on with the story.

1717 hours, February 25, 2559 (Military Calendar)/ Slipspace en route to Sol System, Aboard the UNSC New York

It had been over three weeks since John and Cortana had been rescued from the remnants of the Dawn. They've been in slipspace for 38 days and should be arriving in the Sol System with-in the next few minutes.

During the voyage, both John and Cortana found ways to stay occupied. Cortana had decided to "borrow" some info from the ship's smart A.I., Diana, as to catch upon current events. John opted to asking his fellow Spartans and the Elites onboard to discover the same things. In the time that they were gone, the Human/Elite alliance became official, with the Elites no longer blinded by the lies of the Covenant and their false religion. Humanity had recovered to an extent, with several new systems being colonized and the Human population at 3 billion. This was due mostly in part to improved flash clone techniques and genetic engineering. Despite the recovery, humanity still had a ways to go before it was back to it's early 26th century stature John had also been told of the battle of Onyx by Blue Team and how Grey Team survived behind Covenant lines for nearly two years. The Covenant was still out there, and though the war had ended, they continued to be a pest. The Elites talked about how they managed to repel a fleet 100 Covenant ships from glassing Sanghelios with only 15 of their own, along with 10 human vessels. That was the only direct confrontation the Covenant had made. There was also talk of numerous other skirmishes they had with Covenant forces on the colonies of both races. However, none of the ones spoken of were of the same scale as during the war.

Of course Cortana, being her curious self, decided to eavesdrop on these conversations. She was amazed at the heroic deeds that they demonstrated. Of course, none could compare to what her John has done.

When they were done with that, John had to face one of the biggest problems he's had since the war ended.

Publicity.

Whenever he ran into someone outside the Spartans or Elites, they'd swarm him like a group of drones, either asking for an autograph or to pose for a picture in his armor. Only Cass' squad and Hood were respectful enough not to do so. Because of this, whenever John came across any non-Spartan/Elite, he hauled ass in the opposite direction. Cortana found this quite humorous. He's stared down xenophobic aliens, the leader of the life consuming parasites, and ancient robots from a long extinct race without blinking, but when he ran into some fans he ran with his tail between his legs. At first they only recognized his armor, so he was safe if he didn't wear it, but some crewmembers spotted him in the gym taking his suit off, which ended that bit of safety. Cortana decided to help him out, and in turn, found a way to entertain herself for the rest of the voyage. She helped the Chief dodge the navy personnel and marines like in one of those early 21st century computer games. Of course, sometimes she, like gamers back then, decided to send him into the crowds on purpose to see what would happen. Each time the Chief got away from such an encounter, he scowled at the nearest camera, which Cortana would see through and laugh. Even when he wore his armor she could tell he was scowling under his visor. Of course he never was really angry at her, just annoyed at her choice to do so. But he did thank her for when she did help. In all honesty, John had a little fun with it too. Several times he'd had to jump into an unknown room or narrow corridor to avoid being spotted. Occasionally though, it would land him in some, awkward situations with several room occupants. It reminded him of some of his training back on Reach. How to infiltrate an enemy base without them discovering you. Even after years in cryo his skills remained sharp.

While he wasn't avoiding the crew, he got in some training with his brothers and sisters as well as the elites and III's. He was surprised at how well the III's fought. Then again, Kurt trained them, so of course they'd be good. He did have some difficulty restraining himself against the Elites, though. Decades of fighting them cannot be fixed by a few days of working together. In one grapple he accidentally broke one's arm. A M'raf Sadum, if he remembered his name correctly. He was sent down to the med bay and returned an hour later, arm as good as new. John had feared there would be hard feelings between them, but because of the Elite's warrior attitude, he was quickly forgiven.

But of all the things that the two of them did during the trip, the thing they enjoyed the most was there time together. Whenever John was alone in his room, Cortana's avatar would appear in the holotank and they would talk. Most of the time they talked about either missions John had been on before they met or about what was waiting for them back on Earth. A new life for the both of them.

Cortana asked John many questions about what it's like to be human which, unfortunately for John, he could not explain to the construct. The main reason being that "one cannot explain something that cannot be experienced by the other". When John said that to Cortana she laughed, saying he sounded like one of those old philosophers of medieval Europe. John just crossed his arms and humphed in indignation, making her laugh even more.

Several times during these conversations, Cortana's image would flicker and her avatar would fall on its knees or flat on the floor with its hands on its head in pain. Each time John reached out to her to comfort her and each time his hand passed through her image. After the fourth or fifth time John went to Halsey for help. Unfortunately, she said there was nothing she could do and that they'd have to "wait until we get back to Earth". But the wait was getting to him. Every day was one day closer to losing Cortana, his A.I., his best friend, and his partner. The need to get back to Earth dragged the days along, making it feel like days passed in a few hours. Now he could understand how Cortana must feel sometimes.

But now their journey home was coming to an end. John stood on the observation deck of the vessel, decked in his Mjolnir armor and his helmet under his arm. His face was shaved and his skin gained a bit of color from being outside the suit, but nothing like Maria's color.

Cortana "stood" in the holotank adjacent to her John as her full sized self. Being on the holotank, she just barely matched the Chief in height. Her avatar occasionally twitched as she stood there. Another result of her falling into rampancy was the failure of normal procedures, such as creating an avatar. It had unfortunately been happening more and more recently. John feared that they were going to be to late. However, he never let his fear be known to Cortana, though she had her suspicions.

Currently the deck was empty, probably because the windows were covered due to their transverse through Slipspace, but these two wanted to see Earth as soon as they entered the system. They hadn't had a chance to see it from a distance without some ulterior goal in mind. They never had the chance to look at it and just admire its natural beauty. One couldn't really do so when the same thing you were looking at was the last bastion of humanity against a conglomeration of xenophobic alien races. But now they would.

A rumble could be heard and felt throughout the ship, soon after which the metal coverings over the windows retracted, revealing the space around them. From where they stood they could see Luna and the settlement on her. It seemed that the Covenant ignored the humans on it for the most part. And almost directly below them, through the glass floor, was Earth. And it was a sight to behold.

The Earth below them looked much different then the one they left behind almost seven years ago. First off, it was a lot greener. It seems that near obliteration had taught humanity to try to preserve their planets instead of just finding new ones. Places that haven't had color since before the 20th century once again had enough plant life to be seen from space. The Amazon and Congo seemed to have recovered the most. Because of the Rainforest wars, they had become almost become extinct. But now, they look better than the pictures John had scene during training. One must be prepared for combat in all terrain. There was also ice at the Northern polar region. There hadn't been ice up there since it all melted in 2104. It seems humanity had fixed some of the problems that they had caused so long ago.

It also seemed that the Orbital Defense Platforms and space elevators had also been rebuilt. Where wreckage had once been were what seemed like new and improved MAC cannons. And there was also a space elevator in Africa that wasn't where the New Mombassa one was.

And finally, there was a reflection on part of the surface of East Africa. The sight of the flood infection on Earth that the Sangheili thankfully exterminated. Unfortunately, that left part of Africa covered in a layer of uninhabitable glass. Hopefully it wouldn't remain as such forever.

"It looks so different," the Chief said.

"How so?" Cortana asked, cocking her head to face John.

"Well," he started as he turned to face her, "the last time I saw it, which was also the first, it wasn't really anything special to me personally. It was just another planet I was charged to defend. The only difference was that I wouldn't be able to leave this time if we lost." John took a long, deep breath, then let out a sigh. "That was when we first arrived here, after the first Halo incident and the thing at Unyielding Hierophant."

"Don't you mean Uneven Elephant," Cortana said, poking fun at what Johnson said when he tried to say the name. The Chief chuckled at this.

"Yeah, that place. But after I saw how every other marine I fought along fight saw hard, it hit me how important this place was to everyone else. Sure, it may not have been their actual home, but it was in their heart, and it could be seen in how every soldier fought, along with how civilians tried to help the war effort. And what Hood said before we left for the Ark-"

"What did he say?"

"That's right, you weren't there. He said, "What we should do, Commander, is understand clearly, that this is humanity's last stand. Here. At Earth. We go we risk everything. Every last man, woman, and child. If we stand our ground, we might just have a chance." He then followed up with "Earth, is all we have left. You trust Cortana that much?" I didn't hesitate for a moment when I replied. I put the fate of Earth in that decision. I had learned that Earth was more important than I first thought, and that every risk would need to be taken to save. He told me that this was "either the best decision you've ever made or the worst". I pretty sure you can guess which." Both John and Cortana grinned at this. His luck seemed to never fail him, even in the direst of times. "Now I see Earth as my home, our home, and we're finally going home after almost six years." Cortana just nodded at this, not knowing what to say for once.

They spent the next hour or so standing there, watching the Earth as the ship approached one of the ODP's.

The silence between the two was broken by the sound of hissing air of a door opening. The hissing could be heard again as it closed behind a figure. As the figure stepped forward, John turned to see who it was.

"Quite a sight, isn't it, Spartan?" said the figure now identified to be the Arbiter as he stepped forward to stand next to John's other side. John turned to face forward again.

"Yes, it is," he replied.

"Construct," he said to Cortana, acknowledging her presence.

"Arbiter," she responded. Silence once again filled the room, except for the humming of Cortana's holotank.

"So what brings you here, Arbiter," the Chief asked.

"I was looking for you," he replied.

"Well, here I am," John said in a half joking manner.

"I can see that." The Arbiter paused. "Tell me Spartan, how is it that true."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, how is it that, despite everything you've been through, the war between the humans and Covenant, to the Flood and the Ark, you've managed to survive."

"Well you survived too, didn't you?" The Arbiter was left speechless for a moment. John continued. "Honestly, I don't know how I survived all this. I wasn't this best at anything. Kelly was the fastest, Linda was the best sharp shooter, Fred was the best knife combatant, Kurt had the best predilections, Sam was the strongest, Grace was the explosions expert, and so on and so forth. I guess some higher power took pity on me and decided that they would grant me something none of the others had. Luck. Don't get me wrong, we've both, along with many others, have seen me fight and know I'm more than a capable fighter. I'm just saying that there've been so many times I've been close to death, yet here I am today." Though no one noticed, Cortana nodded when John mentioned having luck.

"So it seems," the Arbiter replied, nodding to himself. The trio stood there as the New York pulled up to an ODP that was orbiting somewhere over the East African Protectorate.. When they heard the sound of the mechanisms of both the ship and ODP clicking into place, they took it as their signal to leave. John placed his helmet back over his head, then pulled Cortana's chip from his head and brought to the holotank for Cortana to jump in. When her avatar had disappeared from the tank, he brought the chip back to the helmet's rear and re-inserted the chip. When he did so, however, he couldn't feel the chill that he normally felt go over his brain when he did that. He turned on his internal comm. link to Cortana.

"Cortana, are you there?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm here Chief," she replied after a few seconds.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"This isn't good," John thought. "Cortana doesn't 'think', she either knows or doesn't. I hope the doctor can get Cortana's body ready soon. I don't want to lose her. No, I can't lose her." John proceeded out the door of the observation deck and down the corridors of the ship, followed by the Arbiter. As they reached one of the exits, they saw Halsey waiting for them. The Arbiter gave John a quick nod before continueing off the ship. John stepped to the side by Halsey as Navy personel exited the ship.

"John, I need you to come with me," she said, and with that she turned for the exit with John close in tow. Soon they were in one of main chambers of the station. Despite numerous naval personnel there, they managed to get through quite easily, probably due to the fact that John was in his armor, so people recognized him as a Spartan. They quickly made way for the trio as Halsey led John onto the monorail system. "My personal Pelican is at the other dock. If when we get there we'll head for my lab near Nairobi. If it all goes without a hitch, we should be able to perform the procedure in a couple of days."

When the train stopped, they got off and headed for Halsey's Pelican. When they boarded it, both John and Cortana had one thought going their minds. "Hopefully that'll be soon enough."

"Bring us down Lee," the doctor said to the pilot.

"Roger that doc," the pilot replied, and with that they dropped down to Earth.

End Chapter Four

A.N.: Spartan Ninja: Sorry this took so long guys, but being in High School, I have finals and regions. But with school pretty much over, should be able to come out with more updates for the story. And please remember to press the button below this message to leave a review telling me your thoughts of the chapter. If you don't, I'll be sure to send the Arbiter after you. Until next time.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer/A.N.: Spartan Ninja: I do not own Halo. It is the property of Bungie, Microsoft, and 343 Industries. Okay, just so you know, I may do more updating in the next couple of weeks. I've got loads of free time and ideas so I'll be writing more. And for anybody that also likes Naruto, I'm making a Halo/Naruto crossover soon, so keep an eye on my profile. On to the story.

1759 hours, February 25, 2559 (Military Calendar)/ Aboard Civilian Pelican en route to UNSC lab outside Nairobi

The trip to the surface was rougher than the trip from the Dawn, but at least he was in a ship this time. John could feel their descent to the Earth as the Pelican steadily decreased its altitude. On the bench across from him was the dear Doctor. She maintained the cold, calculating look that he's almost always seen her with. He sometimes wondered how much she could decipher just by looking at a person. She could read John as though he were a children's book. But she had known him since he was six.

John was thrown to the side a little as the Pelican slowed down. After a couple of moments he could here the landing gear go down. Soon the Pelican touched down and the rear hatch opened up. Halsey once again took the lead with John in tow. In front of them was a 5 story concrete building. From where John was walking, there seemed to be very few windows, and those that were there were pretty narrow.

Upon entering the lobby, John could see that this was a busy place despite being almost a hundred miles from the nearest population center. There were scientists going this way, navy personnel going that way, and he could've sworn he saw a spook in the shadows. Before he could double check though, Halsey was already at the elevator across the room. John had push his way through the tide of people, careful not to step on any feet with his half-ton armor. Just as he made it to the Doctor, the elevator door opened. When the doors closed behind them, instead of pressing a button, she took out a pass card instead. Inserting it into the slot below the buttons for the floors, they heard a feminine voice say from the speakers, "Welcome back, Dr. Halsey."

Right after the voice finished, the elevator just dropped down. To John it reminded him of the times he's taken HEV's down to a planet. The blood that would rush to one's head would cause any normal person to pass out, but not John. When he looked to his right to check on the doctor, she remained perfectly still. She looked more like she was on line waiting for something rather than dropping at who knows how fast. And almost as soon as it started, it stopped.

"You okay John?" Cortana asked.

"Yeah," he said as he stumbled forward a step.

"This way John," Halsey said as she started forward again, out the now open elevator door.

As John followed, he took in his surroundings. They were definitely deep underground. The walls around them were solid stone. Wires were lined above them, just missing John's armored head as he walked through the hallways. Every so often they'd pass a door seemingly lodged in the stone. Bright lights lined either side of the hall, bathing them in their white glow. Eventually the hall ended with a door. Halsey once again pulled her card out and swiped it in the lock next to the door. That was followed up by a retinal scan and finger printing on the pad next to the door. After that the door opened and they proceeded through.

This room was much different than the hall they'd been passing through. There was real wall at the edges of the room, lined with several monitors and other machinery along three of them. There was also a holotank a few feet from the entrence Jutting out of the fourth wall was another room with the walls made of cement and glass at waist to eye level. There was one door to the right side of the room that connected it to where they were. Inside the room there were two medical cots along with assorted medical machinery and in the middle, a tank. Not a holotank, but a medical tank. And inside the tank there seemed to be something growing. As John stepped towards the glass he saw that it was some kind of embryo.

Halsey quickly took a seat at one of the computers and started typing like mad. "John, would you please insert Cortana into the holotank," she demanded more than asked as she turned to face him. John complied as he stepped away from the window and towards the said machine. He yanked Cortana from the back of his helmet and inserted her into the tank.

When her avatar appeared, both the Chief and doctor were given a surprise, and it wasn't good. Instead of her normal blue-purple avatar, Cortana's "body" was blood red.

"Oh dear," Halsey said. "This is not good."

"What is it doctor?" John asked, fear evident in his voice. Never had Cortana turned red before. Whatever this was, it was beyond anything he's experienced in terms of "bad".

"It seems that Cortana is starting to fall apart."

"What do you mean by that?" he said, his voice getting louder.

"The sad thing about A.I.'s like Cortana is instead of going through all of rampancy, they go through something much worse. As time goes on, the intelligence of certain Smart A.I.'s leads to self-interference. They would literally start to think to much and cease normal functions, such as creating an avatar." At John's shrug of his shoulders she restated, "Basically, if we don't hurry up the procedure, Cortana will think herself to death."

John took a look at Cortana. "Think herself to death," he thought. "It can't end like that." "How much time does she have left?" he asked.

"I'd say we have about three, maybe four days before the procedure is no longer viable. In that time I'll have to prepare everything for the procedure. Her body still needs to finish growing and then I need to sync Cortana's impulses to that of her body's brain. It'll be a stretch, but I should be able to get it all done in time."

"Is there anything I can do to help?" John asked, not wanting to feel useless.

"No John, I'm sorry," she replied giving him a sympathetic look.

"Please doctor." He glanced at his A.I. "I can't lose her."

"John," Halsey said in almost a whisper. "I know you care for her very much, but you can't help me help her. However, you can help her yourself. Comfort her; be there for her when the transfer occurs. That's the only thing you can do for her. But right now, I need you to go."

"What, why?"

"I have to do several preparation procedures with Cortana before we can perform the transfer." She quickly turned to the monitor after a quick ping sounded from it. After a few keystrokes, she stated, "And someone is waiting for you above us. The doors back to the elevator should be unlocked for you. And here." Halsey reached into one of her jacket pockets and tossed an object at John. When he caught it, he saw it was something wrapped in paper. He unwrapped it and saw that it was a key. "That's a key to my house in Nairobi. You'll be staying there until we can find you your own place. The address is written on the paper. I'll see you later." And with that, she turned back to her computer.

Taking this as his signal to go, but Cortana decided otherwise. "Chief," she said.

"Yes Cortana," he responded as he stopped and turned to face her avatar.

"There's something I need to tell you." If Cortana had a heart right now, it'd be beating a mile a minute. This might be her only chance to tell her John how she felt about him.

"Well tell me then. You can trust me." She knew she could, but this was so big that it may change everything between the two of them.

"I want y-you to know th-that I l-l-l-" before she could finish her sentence her avatar collapsed.

"Cortana," John yelled as he reached to catch her, only for her "body" to pass through his hand and land on the base of the holotank's projector.

"John. Leave. Now," Halsey said in a stern voice as she turned to face the two of them. John really wanted to stay, to find out what Cortana wanted to say, but he had to respect the doctor's wishes. He just nodded and headed for the door. As he exited the room, he took one last look at Cortana, who met his gaze for a moment as she lay on at the base of the holotank's projector. The position she was in sent a pang of remorse through him. Seeing her like that reminded him of when he found her on High Charity. She seemed so broken then. She seemed so broken now. And when he looked into her eyes, although they were holograms, he saw how she was feeling. She was in pain, a lot of pain. There was also worry in them. Worry that she wouldn't make it, that she'd die soon. But there was also a third emotion in there. One the Chief couldn't fully recognize. It looked like friendship, but it wasn't exactly that. It seemed to have something more behind it. Something he could barely remember through all the war and tragedy that have occurred. Something special that he had only had with one person, who he no longer knew if she was alive. If he was reading this emotion of Cortana's correctly, then the look he saw...it was love. As improbable as it was, it seemed Cortana loved. him. And, as improbable as it was, John thought, that maybe...just maybe...he might love her back.

"But she's an A.I. and he's a human," He thought. "That would never work out, unless…" And with that the realization hit him like a MAC round.

"She won't be an A.I. if the transfer works. But what if it doesn't work? No, there is no if. It will work. It has to." With that final thought he turned away from Cortana and proceeded back to the elevator.

As he made his way back, though, his mind was filled with worries and doubts. Though Halsey is a genius, she is still only human, and human's make mistakes. The biggest, and probably the only one, John can point out for the Doctor was the enhancements of his fellow Spartans. After they were performed, less than half of his brothers and sisters were left fit to fight. All John could do is hope that such a mistake wouldn't happen with Cortana.

John was soon at the elevator. After the doors closed behind him upon entering, he felt the weight of a Scarab being pushed onto his shoulders. Any normal person would've passed out by now from the sheer force of the elevator going up. As it slowed down he felt his body almost take off from the ground. When the doors opened, the Chief stumbled forward once again.

When he regained his footing, he realized that he had no idea who he was supposed to meet up here. At least there were less people in the lobby than before.

"Ah, so it's true. You really have returned," a familiar voice said from off to his side. John turned to where the voice came from. To his left stood an elderly man, flanked by three marine bodyguards. The man was dressed in a white naval uniform, with numerous medals and ribbons adorned on his chest. Amongst them was also an insigna for Admiral. The man himself had a pale complextion, though not nearly as pale as John's. Along his face were numerous wrinkles as well white stuble along his jaw line and upper lip. His back was slightly arched forward, but he still stood at a good six feet. His eyes were a clear blue, so clear that a glance into them could show you a life time of conflict in his life, both personal and career wise. But then again, one wouldn't expect any less from…

"Lord Terrance Hood Sir," John said as he saluted the aged Admiral.

"At ease soldier," he responded, allowing the Chief to relax out of his salute. "It's good to have you back Master Chief. Earth needs its heroes now more than ever."

"Sir?" the Chief questioned.

Hood let out a sigh before responding, "Walk with me Chief, I'll explain on the way."

"To where?" he asked as he followed Hood and his guards out of the building and towards another Pelican.

"You'll see," he said. With that, they entered the Pelican, which soon took off, heading to one of the most well known places on Earth.

End Chapter

A.N.: Spartan Ninja: I apologize for taking so long and if this chapter was too short, but I had writers block writing this. Thanks goes to Goth Lolita, who helped me overcome this block. (Note: If you like Inuyasha, Yu Yu Hakusho, and Naruto, and crossovers of the three, check her out) I would have made this chapter longer if I didn't think it would be too long. I will do my best to update ASAP. Until then, read and review.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer/A.N.: I still have no rights to Halo. They belong to Microsoft and 343 Studios (sorry you lost them Bungie). I just want you to know that since this story is mostly made up on the fly, I can't promise when something will happen. I will do my best to estimate, but a good writer isn't constrained by time. Without further a due, here's chapter six.

Chapter Six

1938 hours, February 25, 2559 (Military Calendar)/ Aboard Pelican en route to The Memorial of the Fallen

"Master Chief, we both know that thanks to your actions, humanity has avoided extinction." Hood stated. "However, there are still numerous threats out there that want us dead."

"I know sir, I was told about the Covenant," the Chief replied.

"It's not just the Covenant, Chief." Hood took a moment before continuing. "Right now, the Covenant are one of our lesser issues."

'Lesser issues?' John thought he'd never see that day when the Covenant were a "lesser issue". What could've become a bigger threat to humanity then the Covenant?

Two words explained it all.

"The Insurrection," Hood said flatly.

So many questions ran through the Chief's mind, but instead of asking, he decided to let Hood continue.

"While we were been losing ground to the Covenant, the Insurrection united under one leadership, and started to gain ground because of them. They sent their ships to every system we pulled out of to rescue the civilians we left behind. They convinced those survivors that they were humanity's salvation and that there was no hope for them with UNSC, that with us, humanity was going to go extinct."

"But we didn't," John interjected.

"Yes, but with the Covenant still out there, and the resentment of being abandoned by us harbored inside them, they've stayed with the Innies. And with these new forces, they've become much bolder."

"Bolder? In what way?"

"Instead of the usual bombings, hijackings, and guerilla attacks, they've now started full fledged attacks against us. We've already lost several of our more important colonies to them. Each loss was a blow to what remained of our forces and our moral."

"And there you haven't attempted to re-take them?"

"Of course we have, damn it!" yelled one of the escorting marines. "But every time we're blown out of the freakin' sky before we can even get close."

"Calm yourself marine," Hood said. Said soldier just grumbled as he settled back down.

"Do they really have that kind of fire-power?" Chief asked.

"Unfortunately yes. Ever since the war with the Covenant ended it's been ordered that every developed colony have at least two groups of O.D.P.s. We've sent ships to launch assaults on the Innie worlds, but even with the shielding technology from the Elites, the super M.A.C.s on the platforms always manage to destroy most of the groups. They do always allow one or two to retreat, but only to spread the news of the defeat to destroy our." Hood sighed seemingly in defeat as he finished this.

"So what do you need me to do?"

As Hood was about to answer, the Pelican started its descent. Soon it was on the ground and the rear hatch was open. Hood stepped out, followed by his marine escort. The Chief was the last to exit the Pelican, unknowing where they were. When he stepped outside, he took a moment to take in his surroundings. Then the memories hit him like a frigate.

Just beyond the hill they were standing on, stood a crater Over a 100 kilometers in diameter, and in it was what looked like a giant flower, made of a strange gray/silver metal, unlike that of UNSC structures and ships. This structure led to the final battlefield of the Human/Covenant, and saved Earth from full out flood infestation.

The Portal.

Turning away from the sight, he saw that Hood was standing in front of some kind of monument. As he stepped closer to rejoin Hood, he recognized it as a Pelican wing adorned with weapons, insignias, flowers and weathered photos. On it's center was the UNSC emblem. Below it were the words:

IN MEMORY OF THOSE FALLEN

IN THE DEFENSE OF EARTH

AND HER COLONIES

MARCH 3, 2553

When he reached Hood, he was kneeling down in front of the monument as he pulled something off. As Hood moved to stand up, John could just make out the numbers of his call sign in front of where Hood was kneeling.

"Master Chief," he said with an air of authority around him, making the Chief stand at attention.

"Sir."

"I believe this belongs to you." As he said this, Hood extended his opened hand, showing the insignia for Chief Petty Officer of the Navy. "It was given to you post-humously, but since you're here and alive, I feel I should give you this." Hood stuck the medal on John's metal chest.

"Thank you sir," he responded.

"At ease, Master Chief. Now, to answer your question from before, we have identified the capital planet of the Insurrectionists, known as Venezia. It's on the edge of what was the boarder between the inner and outer colonies, a wild planet with several cities and a history of terrorism when we pulled out. Now, according to what little intelligence we've managed to gather, it's been turned into an armed fortress, with 5 groups of O.D.P.'s and several standing battle groups of destroyers and frigates of both human AND Covenant origin. The human ones are older ships, so they lack the energy shields our current ships have, but with the number of ships we have, we can't spare enough for a full frontal assault. We'd ask the Elites to help, but the Arbiter said that affairs have left him capable of only negligible aid."

"So how does this involve me?" asked the Chief, not seeing where he comes in.

"We're working on a way to bypass the fleet and Platforms undetected. We plan on landing a covert team onto the planet to take out the platform generators. After that, we'll send a battle group to take out the fleet and land marines to help take the planet. We'll have our forces head into the capital and take out the Innies' leader. Once he's gone, the Innies unification will crumble, and it'll only be a matter of time before we clean up the mess."

"Sounds crazy," said the same marine as before.

"Try impossible," said another.

"Which is why we're sending The Master Chief and his Spartans as the covert team," Hood said as he turned to face the marine. "You think you can handle it?"

Things were quiet for a moment between Hood and The Chief, until the latter spoke up.

"When do we leave?" he asked in a monotone voice.

"We don't know exactly. It'll be a couple of months before everything is set. We'll let you know when we're ready." He turned to face his Pelican as another landed beside it. "Oh, and one more thing before you go." He turned around to face him again. "Come back here a week from now. As you saw, March 3 marks the official end to the war. The morale of the people and soldiers present would increase dramatically if you were present." With that, Hood entered is Pelican, his guards in tow. And left the monument.

John turned back to face the monument. The faces of those whose pictures were up there, it seemed only yesterday he fought beside them. The men and women who died on the Ark, he'll never forget their sacrifice.

With one final glance, he turned to board the other Pelican that seemed to come just for him.

As the hatch of the Pelican closed behind him, his thoughts drifted to his next mission. It seemed like a reverse of roles. The UNSC is now the invaders, using the same tactics the Covenant once used on them. It felt weird to be in such a position.

The faint noise of the Pelican's engines were drowned out as his mind traveled to the thoughts of what'll happen in the months to come, and those after the mission. Humanity is no longer at war. So aside from this mission and the few that may follow, he had no purpose. Since he was a kid he was raised for war. How would he adapt to a life he barely knew.

At least he wouldn't have to go through it on his own. He has his Spartan, Mendez, Halsey, and…

"Cortana," he whispered under his breath, so quiet, even his Spartan hearing could barely pick it up. Now he was thinking about Cortana. About their shared past, from Reach to the Ark, to now. How they've saved each other on numerous occasions. How she watched over him during his years in cryo. How she's now falling apart, and the only way to save her is through a procedure never done before. But, then again, it is Dr. Halsey doing the procedure. If anyone could save Cortana from her fate, it's her. But then what happens after that?

Cortana would be human. She would no longer be that little voice in the back of his head. She'd be human in every sense of the word. Then again, pretty much was already. Since he met her, she's proven so. She had a personality, she could learn, and she had emotions. The procedure would just give her a body.

But what if it failed? No matter how good the chances are, there's always the chance of something going wrong. His Spartans were evidence enough. 75 candidates went into augmentation, 45 came out, and only 33 of them could fight. If something went wrong, he'd lose his best friend for good this time.

And at that, he thought of what Cortana tried to say before he left Halsey's office. He knew she was afraid that she might disappear forever, that she may never be with him as a person, only an A.I.

But to John, she was already a person. Despite only knowing her for few months, without time in cryo, he's gotten to know her well enough to know that he cared for her as a person, and not just as a tool or A.I., maybe even more. If, no, when the procedure succeeded, he would have to tell Cortana how he felt about her.

John spent the rest of the Pelican ride thinking about Cortana, his feelings for her, and how he was going to tell her next time he saw her.

2354 hours, February 25, 2559 (Military Calendar)/ Inside UNSC lab outside Nairobi

Halsey looked at the data streaming across her computer screen. Each stream of code only worsened her frown. At the rate Cortana was eliminating connections in her neural matrixes, she'd be unable to function as a human after the transfer. She needed to stop it now.

Quickly she moved her chair over to another monitor. After double-checking the reading on it, she started to furiously tap the keys on the keyboard. Line after line of code was inputted until Halsey thought she was finished. She checked her original monitor, and sure enough, the codes worked, giving her the desired results and removing her scowl.

She looked towards where Cortana's avatar lay on its side, the codes going across it slowing down significantly. Halsey's codes had sedated Cortana enough so that she'd fall into "sleep mode", as rustic computer terminology would describe it. It would buy her some time to complete some of the more urgent tasks at hand necessary to save her daughter.

She stood and headed towards the room towards the back of her lab. As she entered she saw that the embryo that is to be Cortana's body had grown exponentially. Thanks to the improved flash clone procedures, the embryo was no longer an embryo, but now the body of an 8-year-old girl. Curled up inside the vertical tube, Halsey could see the subtle twitches of the body, indicating that the nervous system was functioning properly. The rising and falling of the chest, along with the tube in the mouth, showed normal respiratory functions. And the monitor attached to the tank showed that the several other of the bodies life functions were also normal.

Halsey turned from the monitor and headed back to the main part of the lab. 'Well, at least one part's going without a hitch,' she thought. She turned to look at Cortana again. 'This has to work.'

The sound of doors opening alerted Halsey to another's presence.

"Doctor," said the person.

"How's the adapter coming Stein?" she asked the person now identified as Stein in a knowing voice.

"Well, it's coming," he replied, earning a grunt from the Doctor.

"I am to assume you need my help with it?" The man paused for a moment before nodding. "Fine." With that she followed Stein out of her lab, but not before giving a final glance to Cortana's sedated form. She then left to go work on the most vital piece to the transfer procedure.

As she entered the room with Stein, she saw two technicians discussing something as they stood in front of a table with a small device on it.

"Gentlemen," Halsey said, announcing her presence.

"Ah, Dr. Halsey, we're so glad you're here" said one of the men by the table.

"Enough chit-chat boys, let's get down to business. I have a million things to do and barely any time to do them." With that she pulled up a chair and set to work on the transfer device.

End Chapter Six

A.N.: Spartan Ninja: Again, I know I haven't updated recently, and I'm terribly sorry, but high school is a bitch. I only got this done because there was nothing else for me to do today that would keep me from writing. But this school week may kill me, so you know what happened to me if I don't update soon. I would've made the chapter longer, but the plot bunny here kept changing on me that I couldn't get it down until just now. But just remember, this story won't die unless I do too. So if I don't update in a while, please don't pester me. *cough*Arcangel 88 *cough* Until next time my friends.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer/A.N.: *Chief points gun at S.N.'s head* Fine, I don't own Halo. Now will you please put that gun away? *Chief puts gun in holster* Okay, I'm sorry for the long-ass intermission, but those of you who've been with me for the past year know that I'm on the swim team, and the last few months was the boy's season, so I was busy with practice and the huge loads of homework my teachers give me and the numerous tests I get each week. Thankfully there was a snow day today, so I'm free to write. Enough with the excuses, on to chapter seven.

Chapter Seven

0043 hours, February 26, 2559 (Military Calendar)/ Aboard Pelican en route to home of Doctor Catherine Elizabeth Halsey

As the Pelican started to decelerate John undid the straps that were holding his half ton body and armor in his seat and stood up, facing the rear hatch of the Pelican. Soon the Pelican started to stop moving forward and starting moving straight down. As it was approaching the ground, the hatch to the "blood tray" lowered to reveal his destination.

Despite it being dark out, he could see he was at a stand-alone house along a well-worn dirt road on the African Savannah. It seemed the Doctor liked her privacy. The house itself was modestly large, only two stories high. But what it lacked in height, it made up in width and depth, covering at least half an acre. Around the house was a wooden post fence that went far behind the house that went up about four feet. In all probability, though, it was only for looks. The doctor would need another kind of fence to keep the African animals out.

When the Pelican came to just hover above the ground, the Chief stepped off and walked towards the house, but not before turning to give a nod of thanks to the pilot as he turned to take-off.

As he approached oak doors that made the front entrance, he pulled out the key that Halsey gave him from one of his armor compartments. Het put it in the lock and upon hearing the 'click' as he turned the key he opened the door and entered. It seems Halsey was one of the few who accounted for the Spartans' extra-large stature. Upon entering, a voice sounded out, "Welcome John-117." The Chief's combat instincts kicked in and he looked around for the source of the voice, at the same time has reaching for the gun on his back. "Do not be alarmed, I am Dr. Halsey's house A.I. You may call me Halley." Upon hearing this, John calmed down, bringing his hand back to his side and got out of his combat stance. "The Doctor instructed me to make sure you get settled in while she's working at her office. You'll be staying in one the bedrooms upstairs. There is a fresh set of clothes for you to change into, since you probably don't want to stay in your armor while you wait. Also, the Doctor has left a little gift for you in your room. I'm sure you'll like it." With that, John proceeded to look for the staircase.

As he walked through the house, he noticed that on the walls there were several framed photos. One of them looked like a younger version of Halsey. The next one he saw was a slightly older version of her with what seemed to be a younger Captain Keyes with his arms around her waist. The third picture he saw was of the same two people as before with a baby in the young Halsey's arms that looked strikingly familiar. And the last one he saw was of him and the 74 other candidates of the program during their first month of training. That picture brought back so many memories and, for a brief moment, sent a pang of remorse through him. Going up the stairs, he heard the stairs creak beneath his boots. Upon reaching the top, Halley spoke up again. "Turn right, then left, and your room will be at the end of that hall." John did as he was instructed. When he went down the branch hall, he saw what looked like a common room, based on what he's seen on the ships and bases he's been stationed at. There were a couple of bookshelves along the far wall, a couple of couches and chairs surrounding a large coffee table with several stands between them. There was also a large T.V. hanging on one of the other walls.

'Why would Halsey have all this stuff', John thought. From what he knew, Halsey wasn't an extremely social person, the house's location further proved that. He proceeded down the hall passed several more doors to the room Halsey had set aside for him. As he stepped in, he was struck with aw.

Against the wall opposite the door was a tall glass tube, taller than him. But it wasn't the tube that surprised him, it was what was inside. Inside the tube was…

"The MJOLNIR Mark VII Powered Assault Armor," Halley said. "While you were gone, Halsey decided to work on finishing the MJOLNIR armor. There were several systems she had wanted to add to your armor but never had the chance until she returned to Earth. She worked out the bugs just before the UNSC found your beacon and had the first fully functioning model be set up for you." John slowly stepped forward to get a closer look at the armor. He brushed his gauntleted hand over the glass as Halley continued. "She instructed me to tell you that when she has the chance she'll help you get the feel for it. She also told me you'd like to learn about some of the new upgrades to your armor. They include Atmospheric Insertion Systems-" 'That would've been useful when I came back on the Keyship,' John thought, "Slipspace de-insertion capabilities-" 'Would've helped during First Strike', "Active AI transfer protocols, limited shaping of the energy shield, for capabilities such as partial overlaps and airfoils, and armor abilities, all powered by next-gen fusion-plasma hybrid power systems. Any questions?"

John understood all of the upgrades except one. "What are armor abilities?"

Upon asking, the tube stared to rotate until the back faced him. Above what resembled the fusion pack was what seemed to be a large magnetic clip, along with several indents that something might clip into.

"While Dr. Halsey was on Reach, she came across a group of Spartans known as Noble Team. They had an altered version of the Mark V that had removable components on the back, known as armor abilities. They granted these Spartan unique capabilities that regular MJOLNIR armor wouldn't be able to hold at once. So far, the Doctor has recreated seven types of abilities, Sprint, Lockdown, Jetpack, Camouflage, Drop Shield, Hologram, and Evade. Sprint temporarily overrides your armors inhibitor so that you're able to sprint faster over a short distance. Lockdown temporarily increases your shield strength as to make you invulnerable, but you're unable to move during that time. Jetpack you can figure out, as well as Camouflage. Drop Shield creates a Bubble Shield around you, similar to the Covenant's,, but it also has a peculiar side effect that it also restores your health while under it. Hologram creates a hologram of yourself that runs towards a waypoint you set with your HUD, and stays active until it times out. Evade forces you to lunge forward and, in doing so, breaks any lock on you from weaponry of any sort. They are all re-usable, unlike previous equipment you have used, and can be replaced in the field."

John just stood there in shock. These "armor abilities", as they were called, would unlock numerous possibilities on the battlefield. If it weren't for his Spartan conditioning to hide his emotions and his armor over him, one would see he was as giddy as a grunt with an all-you-can-eat food nipple.

"I would suggest you remove your armor if you plan on turning in for the night. I don't think your bed would be able to stand under half a ton of armor," Halley suggested. With that, John proceeded to remove his armor, piece by piece, setting it on a stand that Halsey must have left for it.

Left in his skintight body-suit, John took a look at his room. It was pretty Spartan when it came to what was there. There was a bed, a large one at that, with a little table next to it with a clock. Against the wall opposite the bed was a dresser and an empty closet. There was also a door to a bathroom and a window. John approached the bed and saw the clothes that Halsey must've had set out for him. He moved them to his dresser before pulling back the covers of his bed to lie down. Almost immediately he fell asleep because it was so soft, compared to what the UNSC provided the troops. As he surrendered to the one thing he ever did to, his mind drifted to what has been revealed to him today. The mission to Venezia, the ceremony for the war, the new armor, Cortana…

0621 hours, February 26, 2559 (Military Calendar)/ Home of Doctor Catherine Elizabeth Halsey

John awoke to the sound of gunshots. The moment his eyes opened his combat instincts kicked in. He jumped out of bed and stood in a combat stance, trying to decipher where the noise was coming from. It was loud, but not loud enough for it to be right by him. 'Good', he thought, that gave him time to grab his rifle from his armor. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw movement outside his window. He stepped to the side of it and just peered through the glass, in case whatever was attacking had snipers. He saw Kelly running towards the back of the house through the knee high grass, one arm tucked against her side, the other with a rifle firing back at whatever was shooting her, with Linda and Adriana in tow, firing back as well. They were all in civilian clothes, khaki pants, sneakers, and savannah colored shirts. That worried John. His Spartans aren't used to being without their armor. Without it on, they might do something reckless and get themselves killed when their armor would normally protect them. John then tried to find the attackers. Whoever they were firing at must've been well concealed, because if Linda wasn't taking them out, she couldn't see them, and neither could John.

Suddenly, to his horror, Linda fell. From where he stood, he saw that she was hit in the abdomen. Moments later, Adriana fell too, taking shots to her side. John could see from where he was that blood was coming out of their wounds. They were still moving, so they were still alive. But who knew how long that would last. He rushed down out of his room, down the stairs, and out the back just in time to see Kelly just 50 yards from the house. But before he could say anything, she fell forward. John ran to her, gun in hand, to see what happened. To his horror, she was shot in the back. Before he did any further examination, he swept the area to check for hostiles. When it seemed it was clear, he crouched down to further inspect Kelly's wound. It definitely penetrated, there was red all over the back of her shirt. He slung one of her arms around his shoulder, the one that was clutched to her side before, and moved to stand up. But before that could happen he felt a pain in his chest and fell over. He looked up and saw Kelly standing over him, gun in hand, with Linda and Adriana flanking her with their own, seemingly unaffected by their injuries.

Before John could ask what was going on, he heard a voice yelling in the distance. "We win!" it sounded. John knew who it belonged to. In his field of vision entered, Mike, Jai, and Fred. "Guys win, girls lose. Dinner's on you three," Mike said, eliciting a groan from the girls.

"What's going on?" John demanded in a slightly pained tone of voice as he moved to sit up.

"John? When did you join the game?" Fred asked.

"Game?" John asked, seemingly scandalized. "That was a game? I thought I was under attack and that you three," he gestured to the girls with their "wounds", "were injured or worse!"

"You forgot to tell him?" Adriana asked Mike.

"I thought you were going to tell him," he replied.

"Tell me what?" John said as he got to his feet.

"We were playing paintball capture the flag," Linda answered, showing John her gun. Kelly also proceeded to show the flag that she had been holding during her sprint to the house.

"What?" was John's intelligent reply.

"Yeah. We were going to invite you, but Mike here forgot to ask," Kelly said, gesturing to said Spartan.

"And you were doing this at Halsey's because…?" John asked.

"Because we live here too," she said.

"What?" John asked, for the third time in five minutes.

"Dr. Halsey thought we'd prefer to stick together, so she had this house built for us to share," Jai said. That would explain the houses size and the common room he saw. "But now back to business, the girls owe us dinner tonight for losing the paint ball game."

"Did we?" Adriana asked.

"Yes, you did. We hit all three of you before you got the flag to the house," he responded.

"Wait, three?" Fred asked. And with that, three shots rang out, and the three male Spartans fell forward from the momentum. From behind them stepped Maria.

"Never forget your enemy's numbers," she said as she looked down at them. Kelly then handed her flag and she proceeded to enter the house. Just before she closed the door she yelled, "I'm thinking Chinese, what do you think boys?" and closed the door behind her. The guys on the ground just groaned.

"I think we should go inside and cleanup," said Kelly. After helping the three that had fallen up, the seven Spartans entered the house for a shower, change of clothes, and breakfast.

1141 hours, February 26, 2559 (Military Calendar)/ Inside UNSC lab outside Nairobi

Dr. Halsey dropped into her seat and let out a sigh, a very audible, loud, sigh. She was exhausted; strike that, exhausted beyond exhaustion. She just crammed 36 hours' worth of work into less than 18 hours.

First, her "assistants", if you could call them that, she always had to end up assisting them, almost messed up the adaptor, instead almost making a duplicator. Then, the bio-signs of Cortana's body went crazy. The thyroid and parathyroid were becoming malformed and needed immediate flash-clones. Then just after she fixed that, the codes that she had used to "sedate" Cortana were overridden by Cortana ('damn it for her being even smarter than me' she thought at the time) and needed to set up another string of inhibitors to prevent her for going too far over the edge. Then that idiot Stein brought the adaptor in and dropped when he tripped on the doors guiderail, damaging the circuitry and requiring her to repair it. Then for three more times Cortana, despite being hindered by Halsey's codes, overrode them, requiring her to come up with even tougher ones on the fly.

But it was done now. Cortana's body was growing properly, thanks to the flash-cloned organs she gave it, the adaptor was finished and undamaged, and Cortana was "asleep". By the same time tomorrow, everything should be ready for the transfer. After letting off another loud sigh, she reached for her cup of coffee that she had left by one of the monitors several hours ago. "I really need to stop drinking cold coffee," she thought to herself as she took a long sip.

After she downed the last bit, she decided she should head back to her house for a hot shower, a hot meal, maybe even some hot coffee. She almost moaned at that last thought.

She threw the Styrofoam cup she had just been using in the trash bin by her, then proceeded to head to the elevator. Before she did that, though, she stopped by Stein's office. When the door opened she walked in to see Stein almost asleep at his desk.

"STEIN!" she yelled, causing him to wake up in surprise and fall out of his chair backwards.

"Y-y-yes D-doctor," he stuttered out, partially from tiredness and partially from his still shocked state.

"I'm leaving for a bit. Keep an eye out on my office. If anything goes wrong, call me." She turned to walk away before stopping for a moment to say. "Oh, and don't touch anything." And with that, she left for home.

1834 hours, February 25, 2559 (Military Calendar)/ Nairobi

After recovering from the morning's escapades, the other Spartan's decided that they needed to teach John how to fit into civilian life, with the Human-Covenant War over and all. So they decided to take John into the city via two warthogs that they tinkered with to carry for people a piece. John had gotten into the clothes Halsey had left for him, which consisted of green cargo pants and a camouflage t-shirt with the word UNSC printed on the front, along with a pair of walking shoes. The other Spartans changed into their own array of clothes which consisted of khaki pants and shorts, camo shirts, savannah colored T's, and several kinds of sneakers. Through-out the day they taught him how to buy stuff at a store, the different meanings to a way someone can say something, and the general way to act in society. (It's sad that the savior of humanity can't fit into society on his own.) Thankfully almost no one knows what Spartans looked like out of their armor, so they managed to pass as just really tall and well-built humans that have seen some combat during the war. As the day drew towards an end, the guys (excluding John) were called on their wager and had to buy dinner for the other five Spartans. It was just chance that they chose one of the priciest Chinese places in the city, Minado's, for dinner. When the bill came around, Fred, Mike, and Jai were out 600 UN credits. The girls, taking pity on the guys, offered to buy dessert for them as compensation. They accepted, but took advantage of it. One thing the Spartans will never forget is how to exploit a weakness. By the time they were done, the pastry place they stopped at had enough money to open a second shop.

The Spartans then decided to head back home, where they saw a sleeping Halsey at the kitchen table with a cold cup of coffee in her grip. They crept upstairs where they entered the common room and shared several old war stories that they never had a chance to tell each other, mostly John. By the time they were ready to go to bed it was almost the next. The III's, as it turned out, were also living there and had joined them before they all retired for the night. John went over the day's events in his head; and if civilian life was going to always be like this, then he could really get used to it.

A.N.: So what did you guys think? Not much Cortana X Chief stuff, but I had to put this stuff in to make it easier to develop the rest of the story. I know, it's been a while since I last updated, but I will try my best to write more. Swim season ends on February 12, but there's still school. Please review, I need the feedback to improve the story. It also motivates me to update. Until next chapter.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer/A.N.: Another extremely long intermission, I know, I'm sorry. My work ethic has gone to shit without swim team. But enough with the self-pity, I'm back now, aren't I. And to all my loyal readers, I must thank you, for because of your dedicated following, I have reached 100 story favs, 129 story alerts, 23,600 story hits, and, drum roll please, *drum rolls across the floor, SN face-palms*, (John-)117 reviews. I know, awesome, right. It was just total coincidence that that happened, but it's still awesome. Of course I don't want it to stop there, but I think you really want me to get to the chapter now, so I'll just wrap it up. Here's chapter eight.

Chapter Eight

0725 hours, February 27, 2559 (Military Calendar)/ Home of Doctor Catherine Elizabeth Halsey

Sun filtered through his window and unto to his bed, causing John to stir and awaken to a pleasant surprise. Silence. The room around him was in a state of blissful peace, calm, and quiet, something he enjoyed but had rarely ever experienced up until recently with the majority of his life spent in either cryo, training, or the battlefield, none of which had provided such without some threat looming somewhere out of sight but not out of mind. He slowly pulled himself out from under the covers and stood up. Pausing for a moment, he took in a deep breath and took in his surroundings one last time before heading to the bathroom for a shower. Closing the door behind him, he turned the handle all the way to the left for hot water, then proceeded to remove his sleep-wear, a white tank-top and boxer shorts. When the water was warm enough, he stepped into the shower. He reveled in the feeling of the warm water pouring down on his body and over numerous scars of battles past. Some of them were big, and others were small, but each had its own individual memory behind it.

After about 15 minutes in the shower, he turned off the water, grabbed a towel to wrap around his waist, and proceeded to leave the bathroom. He grabbed a second towel to finish drying himself off, as to not expose himself on the off chance that someone would barge into his room while he was getting dried and dressed. After he finished drying off with his second towel, he pulled out a set of clothes which he proceeded to change into after chucking both of his towels into the corner closest to the bathroom door. His outfit of the day was comprised of brown cargo shorts with a green shirt with the UNSC logo on the front and a pair of combat boots. He then stepped out of his room with the intent to get some breakfast from the kitchen. As he passed by the common room, he noticed Jai and Adriana curled up in the corner of one of the couches together; confirming John's suspicions of chemistry between the two, while Fred and Mike were talking several of the III's about joining the next game of capture the flag paintball, earning mixed facial reactions from the younger generation.

John continued down the stairs on his way to the kitchen when he smelled something. He couldn't tell what it was exactly, but it smelled delicious, causing his mouth to water a little in anticipation. Upon reaching the kitchen, he saw Maria cooking with several pans on the inset countertop stove and a waffle iron next to it. She was in a navy blue top with khaki shorts and an apron over them to keep any food stuffs that might splatter off of her.

John took a seat on one of the stools by the counter. Without looking up from her work, Maria asked, "What'll it be John, Pancakes, French toast, or Waffles? I also made scrambled eggs and bacon if you want."

To John, a man who has never had a home cooked meal before, it all smelled too good to choose. He ended up getting a bit of everything. Of course, for a Spartan a bit means enough to fill at least two plates. He ended up inhaling it all because it all tasted so good, but he had taken a special liking towards the bacon. He ended up eating all the bacon that was cooked, leaving poor Maria to cook more for the remaining Spartans. He had also taken down three tall glasses of milk to wash down the large amounts of food he ate. Maria didn't seem surprised at this though, probably because she'd been living with the other II's like this for a while. When he'd finished devouring the last bits of cooked bacon, he but his plates and cup in the nearby sink and headed back upstairs to the lounge area. As he went up, several III's, Mike, and Fred headed downstairs, probably for breakfast.

Upon entering the lounge, John saw that Jai and Adriana were still in their spot on the couch, while the III's identified as Tom and Lucy were playing a game of war. John decided to pull one of the books from the bookshelves nearby.

After quickly scanning over the assortment of books, he pulled out the one that caught his interest most, titled, "Who is the Master Chief?" Opening it, he quickly found it to be an interesting, if not humorous read, but at the same time some-what disturbing. It went into a number of theories of who or, in some cases, what he was and everything that comes with it. One of the theories suggested that he was a hybrid of human, brute, elite, and hunter encased in armor made from the material of a neutron star. Another said he was a cyborg, which, with his neural enhancements and other augmentations, isn't too far from the truth, but not exact. And another says that he was actually the last of another race of aliens that the Covenant wiped out who wanted to seek vengeance along with his last few soldiers.

He read it until he heard noise coming up the stairs, and then closed the book with a bookmark and placed it on a nearby side table. All the rest of the Spartans had returned upstairs from breakfast for what seemed to be a movie, judging from the data-crystal cases one of the III's brought up. All the Spartans were now gathered in the common room, except for Linda and Kelly. As a matter of fact, he hadn't seen those two since last night. 'Where are they,' he thought.

As if on que, both Kelly and Linda came into the common room hand in hand, sporting slight blushes. This confused John, up until Mike spoke up. "And how're you two lovebirds this morning?"

That statement caused the two of them to blush even deeper, and the gears in John's head seemed to just halt. If one were to read were able to read his mind like a board, they'd only see a blank slate. That only lasted a moment though, as the full impact of the revelation hit him. 'Linda and Kelly are together? Since when, and more importantly, how did I not know?' His mind was filled with so many other questions as well, but these were the most prominent ones.

His confusion must've shown on his face, because when Kelly turned to take a seat near John with Linda, she said, "Yes John, we're dating. I know it's a surprise to you, and it may take a while for you to get used to it, but that's how it is. We didn't tell you before because we've only been together for a few months and we wanted to make sure it's real, but loud mouth here," motions to Mike on the other end of the couch, who is punched by Linda in the shoulder, "forgot about that. Sorry we didn't say anything earlier."

John nodded his head in acceptance, accepting his sisters for who they were. With that, John turned his head to face the III that was talking, Mark he believed, about the movies he brought up. It ended up being a tie between Independence Day and Battle L.A., two old Sci-Fi movies from the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Both dealt with an alien invasion, which the Spartans were all too familiar with. It was decided that the choice would got to the winner of an arm wrestling match between Fred and John. As the center coffee table was cleared for the two, John and Fred wished each other luck and got into position. On 3, they were at it. The two Spartans were evenly matched at first, but then John's arm was starting to fall. Cryo really doesn't help build muscle, while Fred was six years ahead of him.

Slowly, but steadily, his arm approached the table top, putting frowns on half the present faces, but smiles on the others. But just as he was about to lose, John pushed every bit of might he could into his right arm and pinned Fred's arm down on the other side, sending the frowning Spartans into cheers, and raining on the smiling ones' parade. Independence Day it was.

As they watched the movie, they felt numerous similarities between the movie and the war they had won. Aliens discovered humanity and wanted to wipe them out, they destroyed the majority of the populace and military capabilities, and in the final moments, when all seemed lost and humanity doomed, a daring few stepped up and took out the alien menace. It was at the end of the movie that Dr. Halsey stepped in.

John was the first to notice, and immediately knew what she wanted. Fun and games were over now.

It was time.

John excused himself from the crowd and headed over towards where the dear doctor was standing. No words were exchanged, just a quick nod from John, for they both knew what was about to happen. They both made their way out of the house and to the Pelican outside the house. 'I hate flying,' John thought, after all the times he spent in a Pelican the last couple of days.

And they were off to Hasley's lab, where hopefully they would return with one more person.

1150 hours, February 27, 2559 (Military Calendar)/ Inside UNSC lab outside Nairobi

Once again, John followed Dr. Halsey through the bright underground corridors after the extremely fast elevator ride down to her lab. Upon entering, John noticed that the lab was different from the last time he visited. First off, the medical tank that once occupied the other room was missing. In its place were numerous personnel were behind the glass window, busying themselves with the many machines attached to a prone figure in the center of the room.

Cortana's body.

It looked almost exactly like Halsey did in that first picture he saw when he entered her- their house, being somewhere in the mid to late 20's. The only difference between the two was the hair. While Halsey's was a graying blonde, Cortana's body had electric blue hair, the same kind that her avatar's entire body used to be. Something to make her unique, it seemed. He couldn't say anything about her eyes, though, for they were closed, almost as if it were in a deep sleep.

John glared angrily at some of the doctors behind the glass, for they were giving Cortana's body looks and glances with a glean in their eyes that showed perversion and lust, being that the only covering was a cloth covering it from the thighs to waist, leaving everything else exposed. Despite that, however, he resisted walking in and giving each doctor a solid punch to the face, for he knew that they needed to complete their jobs for Cortana to make it through.

He then turned his attention to the room they were in. It was empty of people, except the two of them. After a quick look around the room, his eyes landed on the holotank. There, lying on the top, with codes crawling slowly across her blood red body. This sight hurt John greatly. He knew that if she were awake, she would be in great pain, and there'd be nothing he could do about it. But that would change, soon in fact.

Dr. Halsey took a seat at one of the monitors in the room. "John," she said as she typed several long streams of code onto the monitor, "I'm going to have to wake Cortana for a few minutes while we finish preparations. She's going to need to work at her current full capacity for this to be successful. I'll give you two a few minutes talk while I go finish up with the idiots in the other room. With that, she took her leave into the other room. Soon after, Cortana's avatar began to stir.

"John," she said, in a voice so quiet that it was barely audible, even to his sharp hearing.

"I'm here Cortana," he responded in a soothing voice, kneeling in front of the holotank and putting his hand on the top to almost touch her.

She "looked" up from where she was lying and saw his face. She took in every feature, every scar, every hair, the way his teeth showed through his mouth, his slightly bent nose, and his eyes, his dark brown, battle hardened but still soft and compassionate eyes. She could see it in him through his eyes. The way she felt for him was reciprocated in his eyes, and she could tell he knew how she felt. And for a moment they just looked at each other, not as Spartan and tool, or human and A.I., or even two friends. No, when they looked at each other, it was as two people who are in love, and are about to be reunited. And then she started to cry. Not from pain or despair from the possibility of this operation being a failure, and her never seeing John again. This time, her tears, though not real, were for joy, knowing she was loved in return by the man she loved. Joy that she has the chance to be human. And joy that in the fact that when she becomes human, she and the man she loves will be united and live the rest of their lives together.

John let her "lean" on his hand while she cried, crying himself, on the inside though, for the same reasons as Cortana.

The two of them stayed in that position for a few minutes until Dr. Halsey stepped back into the room.

"Everything else is set. Are you two ready?" she asked.

With one last look at each other, and a nod from Cortana, John replied with a simple, "Yes."

"Very good then," she said as she once again took her seat at one of the monitors and began typing. "John, would you please step into the next room. Everything will start momentarily, and I'm sure Cortana will want you next to her when she wakes up."

John gave Cortana one last look before he stood up and entered the next room.

As Cortana watched John's retreating form disappear behind the door, Halsey stopped typing and spoke up again. "Are you ready Cortana? You can still opt out if you want to. We both know the real chances of success here."

And she did. In reality, the chances of success were actually less than that of the Spartan project. No one knows what would happen if something went wrong. But they did know what would happen if something went right.

"I'm ready," she replied. With that, Halsey pressed one final button on her keyboard, and Cortana's avatar flickered into non-existence. The codes that made Cortana who she was were know being transferred through a cable connected to the holotank and the adaptor, which was attached to the back of the head of her new body. It would take about 15 minutes for every bit of Cortana to be transferred through, but should it be successful, she would be able to leave the same day, after getting the machinery in the back of her head removed. Now, though, there was nothing she could do. Only sit and wait.

She removed herself from her chair and returned herself to the other room. There, sitting by the gurney, surrounded by the movement of the assistant doctors in the room, was John; holding one of Cortana's tiny hands in his giant, calloused ones as he looked into her face. She stepped forward as to stand behind John, and put her hand on his shoulder. He turned to face her, and the look on his face killed her. On it was worry that this might fail, which she knew all too well that it could happen, hope that it would succeed, and the love he had, her adopted son in a ways, for her daughter. It devastated her to know that she'd be solely responsible for the loss of Cortana if this failed. 'No', she thought, 'It won't fail. Compared everything these two have been through, all the impossibilities they made possible, they _will _make it through this.'

"John," she said, after pulling herself from her thoughts. "Don't worry. She'll make it. In a few minutes, she'll be with us again." This removed the worry from John's face as he gave a quick nod before looking back down at Cortana. She looked so peaceful and serene, almost as if she were asleep. The next few minutes were the longest ones the two of them ever felt. Now they had an idea of how an A.I. feels when there's nothing it can do.

Halsey was constantly checking the monitors to make sure that everything was going smoothly, which, surprisingly, it was. She started removing several machines attached to Cortana's body as Cortana's body started taking control of its involuntary actions.

They weren't finished though. Cortana's consciousness still needed to fill the brain. After 14 and a half minutes, everything had gone without a hitch. But then, in the final moments, Stein tripped. And it wasn't over anything he tripped over, it was the main cord that was connected to the adaptor in Cortana's skull, and upon tripping, it was yanked from it.

"Damn it Stein!" Halsey yelled in an almost inaudible growl as she rushed out of the room. She turned to look at the monitor she had been working at earlier and saw the timer just hit. 00:00. She turned back around and stomped towards Stein, who shrinked back in fear of the doctor's rage. She looked down at him and started yelling in the most dangerous tone he'd ever heard from her. "Do you have any idea what you just did Stein! Because of your clumsness, you basically just killed my daughter!"

The guilt on his face was clearly evident, as the doctor turned away from him, and started to break down, letting tears escape her face. "Why… why… why? I already lost Miranda, now you?" All the other doctors solemnly bowed their heads at this horrible turn of events.

This wasn't lost to John. He realized what just happened, and he lost it. His hands moved from encasing Cortana's to being behind her head and on her cheek. "No," he whispered to himself. No, this can't be it. She can't be gone." His voice started to rise in volume as tears started to leak from his eyes. "Cortana, please, don't go. Please, you can't go, because…" His tears started to turn to sobs as he put his face close to hers. "Because I LOVE YOU!"

End Chapter

A.N.: Spartan Ninja: Hahaha, I'm an evil little bastard aren't I, leaving you guys hanging like that. But it's what we authors do. And yes, I'm putting Linda and Kelly together. That idea just came to me while I was writing. If you've got a problem with it, well to bad. This is my story, not yours. I'll try to get the next chapter out soon, because I know how much you guys hate extended cliff hangers but I have my reasons if it takes a while. Please r&r (read and review), or else I'll send the Master Chief after you.

Master Chief: After what you did in this chapter, you're lucky I don't kill you.

Spartan Ninja: Hehe, okay. Well, I'll see you guys next chapter if the Chief here doesn't kill me first. See ya around.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer/A.N.: Ah, now that wasn't that long of a wait, right? It's only been four weeks, a new best for me. *takes bow, and almost gets shot* Yikes, okay, I can see that you guys are still pissed about the cliff hanger I gave you. A lot of you guys called me things that I'm proud to say that I am. I also had several threats issued, including: getting shot by an M90 shotgun, having everything that I love (which would include this story btw) being smashed, Hunters being sent after me, and, my personal favorite, and I quote, "I WILL PERSONALLY LEAD ALL OF NOBLE TEAM ON A PATH OF DESTRUCTION TO ANNALIATE YOU!" I'm sorry that you guys didn't like the cliff, but this is a Halo fic. We all know that almost everyone dies sooner or later, it just turns our Cortana was sooner.

Master Chief: *Points shotgun at SN's back* Are you sure that's a good idea? Because I'm pretty sure that if that's the case, then someone else is going to die very, VERY soon, if you catch my drift. *pushes shotgun harder into SN's back*

Spartan Ninja: I'm joking, I'm joking, please don't kill me. *shotgun is put away* Okay so I'm not killing of Cortana *cough* yet *cough*. *Chief glares at SN, causing him to slowly move away* That would cut this story really short and then no one would be happy. Now, I'm surprised that only two guys touched on the fact that I made a LindaXKelly pairing. Come on guys, and I mean especially guys, I pulled that one out just for you. Think about it, two awesome warrior chicks that could easily snap your spines, together in an intimate relationship. And with my story plans, who knows what might happen. *que perverted smile* Okay, enough with this, I should probably get on with the chapter before John over here decides he's tired of waiting.

Chapter 9

1213 hours, February 27, 2559 (Military Calendar)/ Inside UNSC lab outside Nairobi

The lab was silent, save for the sobs of head doctor and soldier in the room.

It had been going so well, Halsey couldn't have hoped for better. Cortana had easily taken control of her body's involuntary functions, no problems whatsoever. The brain was also showing much activity, further good news that the procedure would be a success. But then that idiot Stein had to go and yank the wire, just as the last bits of Cortana were pouring in. These parts were the most important, for they were what made Cortana, Cortana. It was her thoughts, memories, and emotions. It was also what would allow her to consciously use her body without the aid of other machines. But now she was stuck, her consciousness but a prisoner in what was to be her sanctuary, her golden ticket, her gateway to a new life, with John.

Said super soldier was crying into the body's shoulder, begging for Cortana to come back.

He was met with silence.

Dr. Halsey approached John from behind and placed a hand on his shoulder. He turned to face her as she made a motion for them to leave, but he ignored it, putting his head back on his loved one's shoulder.

Darkness.

That's all I can see.

I try looking around, but my head is stuck facing forward.

My head? Since when do I have a head? I push that thought aside for now as I try to figure out where I am and what happened to me.

I can't remember.

I can't remember a goddamn thing. As hard as I tried, I just couldn't not even my name.

For what felt like years, I stood at that one point, unable to move. And then I saw a light.

I wanted to step closer, to move towards the light, but I remained stuck in place.

As if realizing my wishes, the light started to approach me. As it moved, it got bigger and bigger, until it took up my entire field of view. I could now see that this light wasn't one solid mass, but instead numerous smaller lights that were pulled together.

I suddenly found myself free, after stumbling forward, but catching myself before I hit the ground. Before moving any further, I looked at the floor. It was pure, untarnished metal, with an almost mirror like quality. In it I saw me. I took a moment to see myself before I continued on my way.

I walked into the conglomeration of lights that formed what seemed like the edges of a path as I walked down them. I saw that in each light, images were playing, like little movies. I stopped to watch each light so I could understand. Understand what, I have yet to figure out.

The first one I stopped at showed me the image of a woman. She looked familiar, as if I knew her very well. She had a slightly wrinkled face with shoulder length graying blond hair. Her face was similar to mine, but more aged. And her eyes were a grey-blue kind of color, seemingly filled with knowledge and experience, and, if she was reading them right, a little bit of pride. She then heard the words "Quando il gioco è finito, il re e il pedone vanno nella stessa scatola." When the game is over, the king and the pawn go in the same box. How I knew that, I couldn't remember, but again it brought on a sense of familiarity once again. The perspective then said that her name was Cortana.

I continued through the images, each familiar yet foreign. Most of them contained that woman, who I learned was named Dr. Halsey through several of the images. That was until I came across one image in which numerous profiles were shown, and the voice that was always present in every image said, "I choose him, Spartan-117." The images that followed were soon filled with this Spartan-117 as well as the Dr.

Then there was an image where he appeared in person. Soon Cortana's perspective changed from wherever the image perceived things, to the Spartan's point of view. It was soon evident that the Spartan was male from when he talked to Cortana. I saw that these two made their way through what could be described as a deadly obstacle course. At one point, it seemed as though they had died, but luckily they weren't.

After that point, the images split into two paths. I took the one to the left and I saw many images of numerous humans moving back and forth, bringing things onto or adding them onto some large construct, some kind of spaceship I assume. Then in one image, these unusual ships, unlike those seen in the other images. This is where the paths reconvene. I turn back to go down the path I came from, and then go up the other. In this one, the image is in a lab of sorts, but directly in the middle a stream of codes goes up. Knowledge, so much knowledge. Another image brings me to see another choice being made. These profiles show images of beings similar to the Spartans, but each of these is unique instead of uniform. Cortana said, "Him, Spartan-B312." Several more images appear with codes, then in the image just before the paths reconvene, I see four of the six 'other Spartans' enter. The image soon fades to black. I continue down the path to see the right perspective unite with the left on the ship it was on before things fade in that one too.

More images go, and soon there was another that rang so many bells, but I could not recall myself. A person in the image, called Captain Keyes by another person on what seems to be the bridge, called for Spartan-117, the Master Chief. Once again, Cortana joins his. But this time, the combat is real. The ship was being attacked by aliens, which the Chief brutally slaughtered. He soon reached something that was like a pod, and landed on a ring world below. There he continued the fight, as well as against another, almost undead threat, that the perspective called 'The Flood.' She also learned that the ring world they landed on was built to kill this parasite. Eventually, Cortana and Chief escaped.

I continue my browsing of the images, many of which are accompanied by death, largely on the aliens' part, but humans and Spartans were seen dying in several as well. Then came a point where Cortana and the Chief parted unwillingly. Cortana was soon forced to endure torture beyond measurement, that I could almost feel it myself. This image was by far one of the longest. But when it was done, I was thoroughly disturbed. Whoever Cortana was, she must've had unbelievable strength and will-power to be able to fend off a beast such as that 'Gravemind'. I don't believe that I could have survived what she went through.

The next image was one that brought hope. The Master Chief had returned to save Cortana. I could tell that the perspective doubted whether she was still useful or not, but the Spartan, John as the images called him, eliminated any doubt of that.

When he had leaned down to face the Cortana, I could finally see what she looked like in a reflection on his golden visor. It was me. I was- no, am Cortana. That answers why so much of this felt familiar. But why did I forget it in the first place? It didn't matter now.

As I turned to look back at what I could now identify as my memories, I saw the walls fall apart, the memories that made them up removing themselves and heading towards me. For a split second I was worried that they might harm me, but upon contact with me, I remembered all of the events perfectly, as if they just happened. All the pain and suffering felt fresh, as though they were new battle wounds. But at the same time, all the joy returned as well, despite it being few and far between, and it brought me back a sense of warmth. And then there was love. Love for John to be exact. I can't decipher where or when exactly it came from, it could've been when I chose him, it could've been when I met him, or it could've been during one of the times he's saved me. But that didn't matter. What mattered was that I remembered and that I needed to remember the rest, because I could tell this wasn't the end, for there was still a path ahead of me. But now when I reached for a memory, I absorbed it back into me instead of just watching it occur.

The next set of memories showed the two of us reunited. Together we escaped from the belly of the beast and later escaped a giant star shaped structure, which I now remember being called the Ark, before a Halo, similar to the first one we came across before, fired.

And then there was nothing, or at least seemingly so in the next image. But then a few lights flickered on, and I saw John, floating around. My memory then showed that the ship that we escaped on was split, and that we left adrift in space. John started pushing himself through the void until he got to a cryotube. Before he closed the lid, he said one last thing, just six little words. "Wake me when you need me."

After that moment, the memories looked blank. All that came from was darkness and a sense of loneliness. These memories were endless, going on into forever. But then I came to one where I heard someone else. Almost immediately after, John had been released, and I was looking at things from his perspective. Soon we were brought to another ship, this on functioning, where we reunited with old allies, human and Elite alike.

And then, in one of the memories, we were in a lab with Dr. Halsey. She explained that I wasn't going to be able to survive much longer as an AI, and that my only hope was a procedure that would make me human. I could tell that John was elated by the change in his bio-signals on his HUD at that moment. When I was finished with that memory and it returned to my being, I also could tell that I was very excited as well.

Several more memories went by with further interactions with the personnel on board, as well as John's Spartans, the Elites, CPO Mendez, and Dr. Halsey. But as each memory passed, my memory seemed to change. There were moments when everything seemed to 'lag', as some might say, between the images and sound. At several moments in the later memories, everything seemed to pause. This must've been the rampancy that Dr. Halsey had mentioned.

When we finally reached Earth, nothing looked right. Everything I saw, no matter what source the images came from, looked red. We ended up in another lab, underground this time. Dr. Halsey was talking to John, but I couldn't hear them. I was focusing too much on keeping myself stable. Since nothing from the memory seemed to improve in image or sound, it seemed like I was losing. Then John headed for the door. I had stopped my attempts at stabilization to talk to him. From what I managed to say, I could tell that I was going to say I loved him. I didn't manage to say it though, because I fell to my corrupted codes in pain. The next thing that I saw was a calming blue stream of codes. The next few memories contained these codes, each one more numerous than the last.

Then, the last memory in the line showed him one last time. Nothing was said, but everything was understood between us. After several minutes, he left, and my perspective changed to face the Doctor. She said that I could back out, knowing the risks, but after everything else that I've recovered from my memories; I wasn't surprised when I said yes. And that was it. That final memory found its way back to me.

But now what? I understand everything now except what happened to me. Did work? Or did it fail? If it failed, was this the light everyone supposedly sees when they die? Or was it a unique experience for AI only? Am I maybe still in the process of transferring over? I can't tell. I look around and once again, I'm in the darkness, with no sense of my surroundings except the cool floor below my feet.

Cold? Feet? Since when was my body tangible and could feel things? Okay, so maybe that's another thing I don't understand yet, but I'm working on it.

Then I hear a voice.

It's familiar. Deep and low. Definitely masculine. But it's broken, as if gasping for breath, like its tired or…

Crying? Yes, it's crying. I start towards where I think the noise is coming from. As I get closer, I start hearing words being spoken between gasps and cries. What stood out to me most were three small words.

"I love you."

It's John. He's crying. But why? I push that that thought aside for the moment and quicken the pace towards John's voice. I'm pushing myself to go as fast as I can, and he starts to sound closer and closer with the steps I take. When it gets so loud that it seems he's right next to me, I stop. I try to reach out to him as I yell. "John! John, I'm here, I'm okay! John, listen to me! I love you!"

Suddenly, a light appears in the room, and I can see my surroundings. Sort of. All that my surroundings consisted was the floor beneath me. I look up to see the source of the light, but it's too bright for me to look at directly. I shield my eyes as I turn to look back down, but then I notice the ground getting brighter, I move to look back up, only to look back down with the light source expanding while growing in intensity. Soon it covers my entire field of view, forcing me to snap my eyes shut and cover them with my hands. Soon, even my hands and eyelids can't block out the light. The brightness hurts.

Pain? How can I feel pain? Whatever the reason, I feel it in my eyes as the light becomes more and more intense. And then…

For the past 10 minutes John had continued to cry into what was to be Cortana's body. Dr. Halsey silently mourned a few feet behind him. The other doctors in the room just stared, not knowing what to do. All except for Stein. He had disappeared at some point while everyone was stuck in their daze.

John's heart was completely and totally obliterated. The one he loved, the one he hoped to spend the rest of his life with, was dead, or at least as good as dead. He laid his head on the body's upper chest, with one hand behind its neck and the other lying on the shoulder across from him.

Unbeknownst to anyone in the room, however, the body below John shifted ever so slightly. It did so again, which didn't go unnoticed this time by several of the doctors. They started to whisper to one another until it got to Dr. Halsey. When it did, she looked up from her silent mourning to see that Cortana's body was indeed moving. Before anyone could say anything though, the Cortana's body moved one of its arms to hold the back of John's head, tracing his hair with its fingers.

The touch on the back of his head pulled John from his crying. He then felt something shift to his side. He turned his head and there, facing him with half lidded electric blue eyes, was…

"Cortana?" he gasped.

"I love you too John," she said replying to what he said earlier. With that statement she slowly craned her neck forward to catch John's lips with her own.

The kiss was unlike anything either of the two had felt. Granted, up until just recently Cortana couldn't actually 'feel' anything, but that's beside the point. The kiss was chaste, despite Cortana's state of dress, yet was filled to excess with passion and love for each other. Cortana had moved to a sitting position as she continued to kiss her John, something she had been aching to do since she realized she was in love with him. She started playing with the hair on the back of his head, with her other arm on his side, while John was tracing circles along her bare back with both arms.

This went on for about a minute and a half. When they broke apart for air, all the doctors present clapped, causing the couple to blush. All except Dr. Halsey, who was too busy wiping tears of joy from her eyes to clap. Her daughter was alive. She was alive and well and she couldn't be happier knowing this and that John would make her daughter the happiest woman out there. But before she could let them leave, she needed to do several things to make sure there's nothing wrong with her.

Turning to her workers, she said "Gentlemen, today we've made history. We've successfully transferred an A.I. into a human body. I congratulate you all on a job well done. But now that it's all over, I need you all to go. I'll have the final results available in a few days for you all to view. Until then, I bid you good day." With that, the doctors filed out of the room. Halsey then turned to the last two people in the room. "John, I'm going to need you to go outside for a bit. I need to ensure that Cortana will be fine when she leaves the facility. Okay." That last sentence was more of a demand then a statement, so John had no choice but to agree. Before he left, though, Cortana pulled him back for a quick kiss on the cheek before pushing him to go on.

Upon closing the door behind him, the glass making up most of the other rooms wall tinted as to prevent him from seeing what Dr. Halsey and Cortana were doing. All there was to do now was wait.

1337 hours, February 27, 2559 (Military Calendar)/ Aboard Civilian Pelican en route to the home of Dr. C. E. Halsey.

"I hate flying," John said, putting emphasis on the word hate.

"You have to admit though, it's faster than walking," Cortana replied playfully.

"I'd take walking over flying any day," he retorted.

"I can drop you off right here if you want me to," Mike said through the speakers from his position in the cockpit's pilot seat. John just grumbled a reply, earning a giggle from Cortana.

Cortana had taken almost an hour to finish up with the doctor. With the way things were cut short, the doctor had to make sure there wouldn't be any abnormal side-effects. She also had to remove the adaptor from the back of Cortana's head and give her basic instructions in motor coordination. Naturally, Cortana was a fast learner, and the duo was soon out the door. Dr. Halsey had been kind enough to provide a set of clothes for Cortana, which included pants that went down to the middle of her calves, an olive green t-shirt that clung tightly to Cortana's *ahem* assets, walking shoes, and of course, a set of underwear. Upon leaving the lab together, Halsey staying behind to examine the results of Cortana's test further, they were met by Mike with one of Halsey's Pelicans. The duo had taken adjacent seats in the troop bay while Mike was piloting the bird.

A few minutes later, after further giggles from Cortana at John's antics, the Pelican started to go though it's landing sequences. When they felt the jolt of said VTOL touching down, they removed themselves from their seats and headed down the now open hatch, hands entwined, into the small hanger, with Mike coming out shortly after. The small hanger had one other Pelican, as well as four Falcons and a cluster of Hornets.

As they made their way across the hanger, they heard the noise of large doors closing. John and Cortana looked up to see said door doing such.

"Underground hanger. I've got to admit, Halsey thought of everything," said Mike before heading through a small door out of the hanger, leaving John and Cortana to themselves for the moment. A sly grin crept onto Cortana's face as she swung her other arm up around John's neck, catching him by surprise, and pulled him down just enough so that she could reach his face on her tip-toes, and gave him a forceful kiss. After the initial shock, he leaned further into the kiss, responding to Cortana's force with his own, causing her to moan in bliss into the kiss. He then disentangled his hand from Cortana's and put both around her back, rubbing them up and down along her spine, as she put her free hand behind his head to pull him even deeper.

At one point, John's tongue slid across Cortana's lower lip, seeking entrance to her mouth. She responded eagerly by opening it and darting her tongue into John's mouth. The two engaged in a battle of the tongues, John's going straight into Cortana's mouth while Cortana's tongue snaked its way around John's. Eventually, despite her best effort, Cortana was forced to submit. John's tongue once again entered her mouth, but this time less forceful, as he traced her teeth with it, and then caressed her tongue with his, with Cortana responding with her own. John's right hand started to travel west around Cortana's body until it reached her left breast, where is proceeded to fondle and kneed it, causing Cortana to moan even louder into the kiss than before.

This went on for several minutes, until the need for air was aching in their lungs, and even then they were reluctant to break apart and end the euphoria.

"Wow," was all John managed to say as he released Cortana and stood up straight.

"Huh, it seems I've managed to leave the mighty Master Chief at a loss for words," she said playfully as she poked him in the abs. He just smiled at that and gave her a big bear hug and a long peck on the top of her head, taking a deep breath through his nose before moving his chin to rest on the top of Cortana's head.

"If there's a god out there he must be having the best day ever today, because he let me be with the most wonderful partner, friend, and lover anyone could ever have," John said, proving Cortana wrong for once. This left Cortana at a loss for words herself as her cheeks blushed a dark rosy red from the compliment. Instead of trying to find a retort, however, she just leaned into and returned the hug. The two of them just stood there, content with just being in each other's presence.

This moment was eventually disrupted by a deep growling noise, accompanied by a not as deep but still loud one, causing them to jump apart in surprise.

Cortana was to ask. "Was that-".

"Our stomachs," John answered before she could finish the question. "Let's head inside and get some lunch. If Maria's lunch is half as good as her breakfast this morning, then you'll fall in love with food."

"I'm already in love, John," she replied as she entwined her hand with his and smiled, causing him to smile as well. "But that doesn't mean I won't like it."

With that, the two headed out of the hanger and into the house, where the other Spartans, save for Mike, were wondering where John was.

End Chapter

A.N.: Well, there you guy go. Cortana is alive and well. Now she and John can be together. And might I say things are already getting a little steamy. *John and Cortana appear and start frenching in the background* See what I mean. This is officially my longest chapter, over 1000 words ahead of my second longest one. And might I say that, although I'm not completely satisfied with this chapter, I'm proud with what I've done. And it came out in just four weeks after my last update. I would've had it out on Tuesday or Wednesday, but my computer got a bad virus. Btw, if you ever get a pop-up saying that you've got Trojans and spyware and it's not your anti-virus stuff, just x out of it or your computer will get infected and you'll have to pay $200 to get it fixed, which I know none of you want to do. Now, either next chapter or the chapter after there will be a lemon. I don't know exactly which, because these chapters come out on the fly. I will not issue a warning in the middle of the story, because that'll just ruin the flow. I will give it before the actual chapter though, and there may be a break before it, but that's it. Now Master Chief, are you still gonna shoot me? *Chief blatantly ignores SN as he continues getting very 'physical' with Cortana* I'll take that as a yes. I hope you guys liked the chapter and no longer wish to kill me. Please read and review, for reviews fill my writer's meter, and the sooner it's filled, the sooner I update. I also just realized that this story is now over a year old. Happy Birthday to us. *whoops in delight* I look forward to seeing you guys again next chapter. Until then.


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer/A.N.: Woo-hoo, chapter 10! I've now gone double digits. Next stop, chapter 100 (maybe). We also hit 170 reviews. Thank you my loyal readers for such wonderful people. 200 is our next goal. Moving on, I must apologize for the extreme delay. I started working on this two weeks after the last chapter, but school forced it onto the back burner. But it's over now. I just have a couple of tests to finish and then I'm free(ish) for the summer. I also have to say I overall enjoyed the response from last chapter. But I also had further threats against me telling me to not do a cliff hanger like chapter 8's again. With that, I must tell you that I have an army of Master Chief/Chuck Norris/Bruce Lee hybrids in Mark C (100) Mjolnir Armor. So try to get to me, Hunters, Noble Team, snipers, Oumpa Loumpas, and others, because trust me, I have something much worse install for later in the story, much, MUCH, worse. But I'm not telling. *Evil grin* And yes, this is the lemon chapter. *takes a bow* This chapter is also the longest one yet, 7,374 words, so please, enjoy.

Chapter 10

1337 hours, February 27, 2559 (Military Calendar)/ Home of Doctor Catherine Elizabeth Halsey

The kitchen of Dr. Halsey's home was packed with titans amongst men. The resident Spartan IIs and IIIs, save for Mike and John, were gathered there for one reason and one reason alone.

Maria's cooking.

No one knows how she learned to cook so well. Then again, they had been living off MREs and spaceship food throughout the Human-Covenant War, so anything would taste like heaven in comparison. However, Maria's cooking went beyond that. She did it so well that the rest of them tried to cook themselves, wanting to try to top Maria. That ended with several large pieces food-turned-projectiles through the ceiling, creating holes in the floor of Tom and Lucy's bedroom. The former was unfortunate enough to fall through one of them after hearing an explosion, and crashed onto the epicenter of the blast zone that was once the kitchen. When he came to, he was covered in food stuffs that sent everyone else into a laughing fit. Even Lucy let out a silent giggle when she saw what happened to her partner. It was from then on agreed amongst them and Halley, the house A.I., that the other Spartans would not try to compete with Maria in the kitchen, for there was where she ruled. Also, Tom did not want to have to watch his step every time he was in his room.

Today's lunch was an old American dish that originated in the North-East, specifically from the City of Buffalo.

Yep, you guessed it: buffalo wings. Really spicy buffalo wings. She made a very special batch for Fred, Mike, and Jai. Still miffed about last night's occurrence at the pastry shop she made their sauce from the infamous Ghost Chili Pepper. Hell hath no fury like that of a woman scorned. And when that woman is a Spartan, you're screwed over.

She started to dole out the wings, taking extra care to ensure that the male IIs got their "special" wings. She also put two plates aside for Mike and John. She held off killing John with the sauce, however, because he wasn't part of the game, so she set a regular plate aside for him.

Just as they were about to dig in, Maria ready to relish the guys' torture, Mike entered the room. He'd have been there sooner, but he had wanted to see why John and Cortana hadn't followed him, but quickly left after he found out.

"Where've you been?" Jai asked just as he was about to bite into one of the death wings.

"Halsey called. Needed a Pelican to fly by her lab to get John and a 'friend'," he said, drawing out the word friend a little bit, arousing curiosity in some of the Spartans.

"Well, where is he?" Kelly asked.

"In the hanger with his friend. The two of them needed a little more time to catch up on things before he introduces his friend to you guys. What'd I miss while I was gone?" He asked curtly. Maria's curiosity was further aroused towards this friend of John's. Putting that aside for now, though, she prepared for the fruition of her revenge.

"Nothing. You almost missed lunch though," Maria said with a small grin.

"Well it's a good thing I didn't. I have a need to feed," he said, earning a groan from everyone at his feeble attempt at a joke. He saw the two plates of wings on the edge of the counter and grabbed one. Maria had realized her slip up too late when she saw that he had taken John's plate.

'Oh well,' she thought, 'it was nice knowing him.' She had to stifle a giggle at this thought.

10 seconds after that thought, everyone else started to dig in. 20 seconds later, Fred and Jai started to tear up. 30 seconds later they had hopped over the counter with tears in their eyes. If one looked carefully, they might've seen the tears evaporating off their faces. They then proceeded to fight over the extending nozzle of the sink to ease the sheer hell they're mouths were undergoing, pulling it off in the process.

Having their nearest source of relief busted, Fred and Jai rushed to the freezer, opened it, and stuck their heads into the box of ice, leaving the rest of the dining Spartans between staring at the two incapacitated Spartans and the possibly hazardous wings in front of them, wondering what just happened. They then turned towards Maria, who was attempting to, yet failing at, holding back a giggle, with a half questioning, half worried gazes.

"Don't worry. If yours were tainted then you'd have your heads in the freezer with them. That was payback for yesterday," she said, pointing at Jai and Fred. The Spartans visibly calmed, the female II's laughing Fred and Jai's suffering, but still cast questioning eyes at the food below them. Mike was extremely careful, knowing that he had crossed her as well and would have vengeance taken on himself sooner or later by Maria.

Several minutes later and the Spartans had finished and cleaned up, save for Fred and Jai, who's heads were being frozen stiff as they attempted to alleviate the worst torture they've ever felt from their mouths. The rest had headed off to the gym in the basement. It was at this point that the door that Mike had previously opened to allow two people to enter. Maria recognized the first right off the bat as John. There was no way she couldn't recognize him. The second person must've been his friend. She didn't recognize her; though she did have a striking resemblance to Dr. Halsey when they were training, save for the electric blue hair and eyes. Maria had to admit though, she was definitely very pretty. Her eyes then travelled down to see that their hands were interlocked. 'That must be what Mike meant when he said friend that way. But then what did he mean by them being…' She was pulled from her thoughts as the duo in question approached.

"Hey Maria," John said.

"Hey John, nice of you to rejoin us. What did Halsey need you for? And who's your lady friend here?" Maria asked, turning her head to the person at John's right.

"Cortana. It's a pleasure to meet you Maria. John's told me a lot about you and his fellow Spartans," Cortana responded, extending her free arm which Maria grasped and shook with a smile.

The name seemed familiar, and after a moment it clicked. The blue hair and eyes, the familiar face, and the name, all led to one conclusion. "Wait, Cortana as in John's A.I. Cortana?"

"The one and only," she replied with a smile.

"But you're…"

"Halsey," both John and Cortana, answering the question they both knew she was going to ask.

Maria just stood there shocked. She had never heard of an A.I. becoming human before. That would explain why the dear doctor had been so busy lately. Whatever she did to make Cortana must have required a lot of work.

A loud grumbling pulled Maria out of her reverie and glare at John. "Really John?"

All he did in response was point his left index finger at Cortana who was sporting a blush of embarrassment. A slightly quieter, but still loud one was heard. "That would be me."

"I see that large breakfast this morning wasn't enough for you John. I left a plate of wings for you on the counter for when you returned. Now that I need to feed two now I'll have to make more. Just start with those and I should be finished in a few minutes." With that, Maria began to prepare another large batch of wings. After the way he inhaled the bacon this morning she needed to make sure there'd be enough for John and Cortana, though she doubted that their new friend would eat much.

John grabbed the plate of wings from the counter and placed it between two seats that he and Cortana soon settled into.

"So, how'd do you eat these? Do I need a fork and knife or something?" Cortana asked.

Stifling a laugh at Cortana's lack of know-how, John replied, "No, you just pick them up with your hands and dig in." He demonstrated by picking up one of the wings and bringing it to his mouth. Before he could eat it, he remembered that they needed drinks. So he put his wing down as Cortana started on hers. As he approached the fridge, he felt a chill by his legs. Looking down he saw that the freezer was open, with Fred and Jai sticking their heads in it.

"Maria, care to explain why Fred and Jai are sticking their heads in the freezer?" Maria stopped what she was doing and turned to face John, then glanced at Cortana.

'Shit' was the one thought in her mind as she saw Cortana starting to tear up. "Hehehe, funny thing that you mention that. I was still kind of angry at the guys for their escapade at the pastry shop, so I…"

"You, what?" John asked, arms crossed and eyebrow raised.

"I kinda, sorta, gave them wings with some "special" sauce."

"Special sauce?" John's eyebrow rose even higher, if that was even possible.

"Ghost chili pepper sauce." Now both of John's eyebrows were almost at his hairline. Ghost chili peppers were used against early Innie riots as crowd dispersal weapons because they were so hot. "And Mike had taken your plate during lunch, so you have his and, well…" She nodded her head towards Cortana.

The tears that started to appear in Cortana's eyes were now flowing like faucets. She was waving her hands in front of her mouth as she was screaming, "Hothothothothot! Why does my mouth feel like it's on fire!"

John gave Maria a quick glare before asking how to help Cortana.

"Milk."

"Milk?"

"Yes, milk. There's something in it that cools your mouth down you eat something spicy," Maria said.

"But these are really spicy and-"

"Just grab the milk!" Doing as Maria said, John grabbed the milk from the fridge, taking care not to hit Fred and Jai's prone forms with the door. With the skills of a professional bartender, Maria grabbed a glass from one of the cabinets and slid it across the counter to John, who quickly poured the white liquid, then slid back to Maria, and handed it to the suffering blue head. "Drink this Cortana, it'll-," before she could finish that sentence the glass was in Cortana's hand and the liquid inside was gone.

Putting the glass back on the table, Cortana grabbed a napkin and wiped her face of the tears that had been pouring down moments ago. "Thanks," she said breathlessly.

"You okay?" John asked.

"Yeah, just don't ever let me eat these again."

"Don't worry, Maria won't make them that spicy again. Right Maria," he stated instead of asked, sending a death glare in her direction.

"Yeah, yeah don't worry, I won't do THAT again," she said, waving her hands in front of her and letting out a forced laugh.

"So, can we have something that won't feel like a plasma grenade exploded in our mouths?" John asked, earning a giggle from Cortana.

"Well, there are some waffles leftover from breakfast, some bacon too. That sound good?"

"Brunch for lunch sounds good to me. Cortana?"

"As long as we don't repeat this incident."

"Okay then, two orders of waffles and bacon, coming right up." She walked over to the fridge to get said left-overs. Before she did, however, she gave Fred and Jai a nudge. When neither responded, she proceeded to remove their heads from the now unfrozen freezer. Upon their removal, Maria, broke into hysterics, with John and Cortana following soon after seeing what she saw.

Both of the unconscious male Spartans had icicles facing forwards from the tip of their noses and cheeks and their hair was frozen upwards in a frill like fashion. Their lips were also pretty big from the death wings and were pushing away from their faces like a beak. One could say they looked like frozen triceratops' from the way their faces froze.

After calming down a bit, Maria, with her super human strength, lifted the two "men" and brought them upstairs, where she deposited them on one of the couches, then returned downstairs to prepare lunch for John and his lady friend, but not before taking pictures, with an instant develop camera, of the two triceraspartans for black-mail purposes.

After a couple of minutes the duo were happily eating while Maria had left to join the other, conscious Spartans in the gym. John happily ate his bacon before moving to his waffles. But first he snagged a couple of pieces from Cortana, earning a small glare from her, but not much else. She was too enthralled with the fluffy squares of goodness, especially with the sweet syrup on top. She enjoyed them so much that she ended up stealing John's waffles as well. When he tried to recapture them with his fork she threatened his hand with her knife. Taking it as a challenge, John started to make blows at Cortana's knife. Cortana didn't take that sitting down, literally. She stood up, grabbed her fork, and engaged John in a duel for the waffles. John stood as well, and soon they were circling the island counter top they were eating at, exchanging blows to their silverware. Occasionally John would sneak a bite of waffle in with a grin when Cortana was far enough away, but then she would come back full force. Unfortunately, she was dealing with a professional soldier, and was beginning to tire out. Seeing an opening, John caught her knife between the teeth of his fork and pulled from her grasp, throwing it into the sink. Now it was just fork on fork, and Cortana was clearly losing ground. Soon their forks were locked like Cortana's knife was previously. But before John could disarm her completely, she grasped the fork with both hands, and pushed, with all her might, to the right to where her plate, and in turn, the last piece of waffle, was. John didn't try to stop, but even so she had a hard time pushing the entwined forks. Stabbing the last piece, she moved to capture the bite sized morsel with her mouth.

Just as she grabbed it with her teeth she felt a pressure on her lips. John had done the same as her.

Withdrawing their now useless utensils from their mouths, the two continued their fight for the waffle. Cortana struck first, sliding her tongue from between her teeth to capture the fluffy morsel, with John following suit almost immediately after. The bit went back and forth between the two. Not only were their tongues used, but other parts as well. John trailed his hands along Cortana's back, under her shirt, while Cortana had hers on his chest, each trying to make the other moan and break their concentration.

It seemed John had won, knowing more of Cortana's sweet spots and all, but in a last ditch effort Cortana stole the bit and hit it between her back teeth and cheek, then swallowed.

Knowing he had lost, John groaned in defeat, but instead of halting his caresses of Cortana's body, he continued even more fervently. He removed his hands from Cortana's back and spun her around so that her back was to his chest. He then backed the two of them into one of the kitchen chairs, not for a second breaking the kiss between the two of them, and sat her down in his lap with his arms around her stomach. They didn't stay there for long, however, and soon started to travel under her shirt again northward to the two beautiful orbs that reside upon her chest. As their tongues continued to do battle, John's hands began to knead her breasts through her bra, causing her to moan into his mouth. The moan sent a shiver of pleasure down his spine, causing his (not so) mini-Spartan to rise into Cortana's sex, making her moan even more.

For a moment she broke the kiss and slipped one of her hands into John's shorts, grabbing his hardened member. "Someone seems excited," she said playfully as she started to stroke it. His only response to her was him latching back onto her kiss abused lips.

John's hands started to become bolder. They stopped kneading from outside the bra, and slipped under the cups to continue. The feel of John's hands on her breasts, his sex prodding hers, and his mouth on hers was driving Cortana crazy. When John's right hand decided to pinch one of her hardened buds, she broke the kiss and let out a throaty moan that could be heard through-out the house. Had John not been enraptured in the pleasure he was receiving himself, he would've heard the sound of steps approaching him. It wasn't until the couple heard the sound of someone clearing their throat that the two stopped in their ministration.

"Looks like someone got their hand caught in the cookie jar," a male voice said.

"More like sometwo," a female voice.

The two turned to see Adriana, Mike, Maria, Linda, and Kelly in the kitchen doorway staring right at them. The two of them immediately removed their hands from their *ahem* current positions and jumped apart out of the chair, sporting tomato red blushes of embarrassment at being caught in the act.

"I see what you meant by John and his "friend" being "busy" now Mike," Adriana said, putting air quotes around friend and busy. This just caused their blushed to turn even redder.

"Come here," Mike said grabbing John in a headlock and gave him a noogie. "You sly dog you." This did not help John at all. Eventually they relented.

"So Cortana," Kelly started, trying to break the awkward tension that filled the air, "Maria told us that you're human now. How does it feel?"

"*cough* aside from John *cough*," Mike mumbled but was still heard, earning a hard punch to his arm. That statement caused Cortana to turn so red that her hair seemed to be turning purple.

"It is amazing," she stated, standing up. "It's just all so amazing, being able to experience all this that you do every day. The sights, the smells, the tastes-"

"The touches," Mike said, getting a punch on each arm by Maria and Adriana.

Cortana giggled at Mikes antics. "Yes, that too, and the sou-"

Screaming from upstairs cut Cortana off. All the Spartans rushed up the stairs, with Cortana pulling up the rear. When they reached the lounge they saw Fred and Jai, now defrosted, standing in opposite sides of the couch with fingers pointed accusingly ay each other.

"Why were you sleeping next to me?" Fred yelled at Jai.

"Why did you have your arm over me?" He retorted.

"I have no clue. I'm not gay though."

"Yeah, well neither am I. I'm with Adriana."

"Hey, offense taken!" Kelly yelled at the screaming guys as she wrapped her arm around Linda.

"Sorry," the two male Spartans said.

"What happened?" John asked.

"We have no idea. One moment our mouths were burning and our heads were in the freezer because of Maria-"

"We're going to get back at you for that," Jai interrupted.

"And the next thing we know, we wake up from sleeping next to each other!" Fred exclaimed.

"Maria, care to explain?" John asked.

Had said person not have been a Spartan as well, she would have cringed under the glare of Fred and Jai. Instead she just had a sheepish expression on her face with one of her hands rubbing the back of her head. "Sorry guys. You kind of passed out in the freezer, so I moved you guys out of the way up here. I didn't think you'd flip out from it." As a Spartan, if glares could kill, Maria would be M.I.A. ten times over with the glare Fred and Jai were giving her. "Before you guys try anything to get back at me though, I should warn you, I've got pictures of you two passed out, and I'm more than willing to release them to the public."

"You wouldn't," Fred said.

"I would," she replied, handing a photo to Fred. "Here's one of the pictures. Do what you want with it, I've got plenty more."

Fred's eyes twitched upon seeing the photo. Seeing this, Jai circled the couch and peered over Fred's shoulder, his eyes began doing the same as Fred's. The picture showed Fred and Jai's heads frozen with icicles on certain points and their lips three times their normal size. But that was only half of it. The two were also in a rather compromising position with Fred's arm around Jai's waist and their faces just an inch apart.

And then Fred ripped it to shreds so no one could ever see it again.

"Like I said, I have a million others, so don't try anything funny," Maria said. And with that, she headed back down the stairs.

Jai and Fred stared at each other, and realized they now had a mission: They had to destroy the photos before Maria could release them. They too headed downstairs to spy on Maria and see if they could find where she's hiding the photos. Well, at least they were going, until Adriana grabbed hold of Jai and pulled him in for a quick kiss for "reassurance", then pushed him back to follow Fred down the stairs.

Unfortunately, his foot caught a rug in front of the stairs, tripping him, and sending him tumbling down the stairs. Fred was unfortunate enough to be caught in the tumble, and when the two stopped at the bottom, they were in yet another compromising position.

"Another one for my collection," Maria said as she pulled out her camera and captured the moment, before walking off to store the photo.

The other II's plus Cortana were looking down as this unfolded. Maria's nonchalant attitude at getting the two in such a position caused them to have to stifle a giggle for Jai and Fred's sakes.

"Does this kind of stuff happen here often?" Cortana asked.

"Kinda, yeah," Linda said.

"I could get used to this," Cortana said with a grin as Fred and Jai scrambled apart. They started to try to quietly follow Maria, but from where everyone else stood that was near impossible. If they could hear them make the floorboards creak from up there, then Maria would definitely hear them. They turned away from the stairs after the duo left their line of sight. Before they got half-way, though, there was a crash, followed by yelling and the click of a camera, earning giggles and laughs from everyone present, save Adriana who just face-palmed at her boyfriend's antics.

1724 hours, February 27, 2559 (Military Calendar)/ Inside UNSC lab outside Nairobi

'Where the hell is he,' was the thought raging through Dr. Halsey's head at the moment as she marched on a war path to one of the other labs.. She had reviewed the data from Cortana's transfer, and by some miracle, everything was as it was supposed to be. That didn't mean she was any less angry at Stein for nearly fucking up the entire procedure with his "accident".

"Sandler!" Halsey yelled upon entering the lab. At a computer on the far side of the lab, next to a holotank, was a tall brunette woman in a sterile white lab coat. Her name was Elizabeth Sandler and she, along with the labs resident dumb A.I. Kaumātua, was the lab's data keeper, so she'd know everything on everyone that worked there.

"Y-yes D-doctor," she said with a stutter, afraid of the Doctor's tone, turning from her work on the computer.

"Do you know where Stein is?" She asked in almost a growl.

"Ah, g-give me a second," she said as she turned back towards the computer and entered several commands. "Video feed shows him sneaking to the rear of the lab, then getting picked up by an unmarked Pelican heading in the direction of the Cairo platform."

"Hm, that's strange," Halsey said.

"If you think that's strange, you should see this," Kaumātua said as he suddenly appeared on the holotank, startling Sandler. Kaumātua's avatar was that of an elderly Māori man in traditional garb. "According to the records, there are no records. Of Robert Stein that is, at least until he was put on your payroll three years ago. And aside from the basic name and contact number, we have nothing on him. No place of residency, no previous place of work, no school, nothing."

"How'd he get the job then?" Halsey asked.

"I… do not know," he said. "That information is heavily encoded, beyond the means you have provided me with my programming."

"Very well Kaumātua. Thank you for revealing this bit of information. I'll have to investigate more on this revelation on Stein." With that, Dr. Halsey left the room.

'Who are you Stein?' was the new thought that now raged through her mind.

2237 hours, February 27, 2559 (Military Calendar)/ Home of Doctor Catherine Elizabeth Halsey

John, Cortana, Kelly, Linda, Mike, and Adriana had taken to the lounge area after the escapades that occurred after lunch. Both John and Kelly had their respective partners sitting in their laps as they sat in two of the large armchairs, while Mika and Adriana took to a couch.

The group talked mostly of what life has been like in the house with professional soldiers acting like children. Mike and Adriana did most of the talking, as John and Cortana had only just recently arrived, and, having heard experienced these stories firsthand, Kelly and Linda zoned out, paying attention only to each other.

Both John and Cortana were extremely intrigued, if not also slightly disturbed, by the antics the Spartans have been up to. The one the made them laugh the hardest was one that had to do with Ash's squad, handcuffs, duct tape, speedos, rope, a Falcon, and a camera. Mike said that Jai had pictures, but they had to be quiet about it or else Olivia would sneak up on him and Jai and strangle them in their sleep.

At some point in time, Fred and Jai were seen limping up the stairs. With just a quick look at the others, the message was conveyed that their mission was still in progress, but for now they needed some rack time. With that, the two headed to their respective rooms. The resounding thumps signified that the two had collapsed onto their beds. Maria came upstairs soon afterwards with a devious smirk on her face as she passed by the lounge and went to her room as well. After a little more talk of the insanity that occurs in the house with the different groups of Spartans, the group in the lounge decided to turn it in, just at the same time the III's returned. Each of them went to their respective rooms, either alone or with their "room-mate," save Cortana who had yet to be given a room, so she opted to follow John to his. Upon entering John turned his head to the side at the sight on his bed. Cortana slipped around his body to see what was holding him up. Looking straight ahead she saw what caused John to stop.

"Guess I'm bunking with you John," she said. On his bed were several sets of women's clothes, with the underwear on top. Cortana entered the room and moved the clothes to an empty drawer to save John from embarrassment. "Okay John, you can look now," she said in a half mocking/half playful tone.

John turned his head to face Cortana, whose face was in the "are you serious" expression. "Really John? After what happened during lunch I'd think you wouldn't make a big deal of this."

John's only response to this was another embarrassed smile and a hand behind his head. She just shook her head and entered the bathroom to get ready for bed. When she exited, John entered and took his turn at getting ready. Upon exiting he removed his shirt, shoes, socks, and shorts, tossing said items in a laundry hamper by the door. Turning to his bed, he saw that Cortana had already made herself comfortable under the covers in his- their bed. She patted the left side of the bed, inviting John to join her.

He accepted the invite and slipped into the bed. As soon as he was under Cortana grabbed hold of his arm and pulled it to her chest. Her bare chest. He could feel the soft orbs being squeezed against his arm.

Cortana moved her head so that her mouth was right in front of his ear and said, "Thank you John," then gave him a kiss on the cheek.

He turned to face her and asked, "For what?"

"For everything. For saving me from Guilty Spark, the Gravemind, myself." She paused for a moment. "You're the reason I'm here right now. You've given me a reason to go on, and a new adventure to go with it. I don't know if I'll ever be able to thank you enough." One of her hands started to snake up his arm and around his neck.

"If either of us should be thankful it should be me. If I didn't have you around, I probably would've been dead right now, along with the rest of the galaxy. Or worse," he said as her hand grazed a scar on the back of his neck, right where a flood form almost infected him on the first Halo, had it not been for Cortana's quick thinking. That was something they both knew he'd like to forget, so she moved her hand up, away from it.

"I guess we are a perfect match then," Cortana said as she inched her face closer to John's.

"I guess we are," he said in a hushed whisper, just before his lips latched onto hers. He tried to circle his arms around her, but was too difficult with Cortana lying on her side. Seeing his issue with her current position, she broke the kiss moved herself onto her knees and straddled John. To stay level with her, John shifted to more of sitting against the backboard of the bed. By now the blankets had fallen down the bed, covering only the lower parts of their legs. John could once again see Cortana's body in all its glory. Her gentle curves, her flat stomach, her well-endowed breasts. But the one part that got him were her eyes. An electric blue unlike that of anyone else. She could see into him with them, and he her in turn. They were something that he hoped he could see every day for the rest of his life.

Cortana re-engaged the kiss and ran her tongue along John's lower lip, asking for him to open. He complied and soon their tongues were engaged for the third time that day. This time, however, there was no fighting. It was just sweet, blissful caresses between the two, each taking turns exploring the other's mouth or mixing with the other.

Their hands didn't lay idle in this exchange. John's hands had worked their way to Cortana's side and were heading south while hers laid on his battle scarred chest. John's hands reached Cortana's lower back and started to trace circles along the skin, while Cortana's had traveled to his abdominals. There was no stomach there, just muscle from 8 years of training and 27 years of war.

John's hands started to get adventurous; one of them traveling lower, over the curve and onto Cortana's left cheek. His hand started rub, causing Cortana to moan into the kiss and arch her chest forward in pleasure.

The feel of her soft body squirming under his hands, her fingers along his abdominals, the vibrations of her moans, and the taste of her kiss was driving John crazy. So crazy that he started to wonder what her soft body would taste like.

Abruptly, John broke the kiss, earning a mewl of disappointment from Cortana, but that was short lived as she felt John's lips and tongue latch onto a pulse point on her neck, introducing greater pleasure to her system than the kiss had, causing her to release a throaty moan. Then there was a brief moments of pain.

He'd bit her. Not enough to draw blood, but enough that it would leave a mark. John's mark on her. She decided to return the favor and latched onto to his thick neck with her lips. After a moment and a moan at this ministration, Cortana bit into John's neck, leaving her own, albeit smaller, mark on John. Then John's kisses started to descend, slowly going from her neck to her collar bone. Before going any further, John flipped them so that he was on top, straddling Cortana with his arms on either side of Cortana's head. His kisses continued southward, pausing to lick and nip the Cortana skin, until he reached the swells of her chest. Upon reaching those he stopped his kisses. Instead, he hovered his head over them with his nose just touching the porcelain skin of the mounds. His hot breath was driving Cortana crazy and she arched her chest forward to feel more of John, but he just pulled away.

When she finally set herself down John began his ministrations again, this time with his tongue. It would circle one breast several times around the nipple, then dip into the valley between her breasts before doing the same to the other, then head back to the first.

Cortana was squirming moaning under the feel of his tongue. 'Where did he learn to do this,' she wondered as she let out another moan. She would have to find out, but not now.

John had paused at Cortana's left breast, earning a mewl of dissatisfaction. Hearing this, John grinned as he enveloped the breast in his mouth and ran his tongue over the soft flesh as he grasped the other with his left hand, kneading it gently. Every time his tongue ran across her nipple she let off a small moan. Then, doing as he had done with her neck, her bit her nipple and pinched the other, earning an even loader moan then before. He then released it with a wet *plop* and switched his attention to her other breast as his right hand came down to play with her left. Doing the same he had done with her left breast, John got another loud moan from Cortana. He then started his south bound trail of kisses yet again.

Slowly, but steadily, he moved his mouth to her core, but not before sending his left hand in to explore while his right played with her breasts some more. Upon reaching her panties, he felt that they were soaking went. He looked up at her from his ministrations and flashed a devilish smile before returning his attention down south. He moved her underwear aside from her sex and inserted a finger into her warm, wet depths, earning a guttural groan of pleasure. He started to pump slowly in and out of her tight depths, each one earning a load moan from Cortana.

As he did this he continued his trail of kisses, giving pause at her navel to dip his tongue in, earning a short giggle from Cortana that quickly turned into another moan. He then re-continued his kisses until he reached her soaked panties. He paused for a moment, taking in the sweet, musky aroma of Cortana's arousal. He then removed finger from the core, earning him a whine in protest.

Cortana felt a tug at her underwear. She looked down to see John pulling at the elastic of her panties. Deciding to help him out, she pulled her leg from beneath him and stuck them in the air, allowing John to remove the offensive undergarment and toss it aside.

Cortana spread her legs open, baring her naked form to the world, so that John would have easier access to continue. He leaned back down and reinserted his finger into her along with a second one, causing her to moan again as they pumped in and out, in and out. John's tongue found itself on her hairless pubis area (courtesy of Halsey) and descended to little bump just above her lower lips. Upon touching it, Cortana squirmed and released a moan from deep within her lungs. Seeing how good this felt, John decided to play with tis bump, licking it this way and that and biting it every so often. At one point John had added a third finger to the two pumping into her core, and that was it.

Cortana felt something in her low stomach constrict and release. When it released, Cortana felt a wave of pleasure, then collapsed.

The release she had felt was her juices, which were now all along her inner thigh and John's hand. Curious, he decided to taste Cortana's essence. She tasted sweet, if not a little musky. Liking it, he lapped up the juices from his hands and Cortana's inner thighs.

He then moved back up to face the breathless Cortana and asked, "Are you ready?"

His answer came in a simple, weak nod. Getting his answer, John stood up off the bed and removed his final article of clothing, and returned to supporting himself over her.

"Are you sure you want this Cortana? It's going to hurt," he said in genuine concern. He was a forty something year old virgin, he could wait a little longer if he had too.

"Yes I'm sure I want this, because it's you doing it," she replied. John gave her a quick kiss on the lips before he positioned himself at her entrance. Slowly, but steadily, his Spartan pushed its way through Cortana's tight, warm, and moist cavern. Then it hit a barrier, causing Cortana to twitch in pain.

"Are you okay?" John asked.

"Yes, I'm fine, just let me…" She circled her arms around him so that her hands grasped his back. "Just do it quickly, please," she said.

Nodding, John leaned his head forward and caught her in a kiss that he hoped would lessen her attention towards the pain. He pulled his member out until the head was just inside her, then he rammed it into her, breaking the barrier. Tears formed in Cortana's eyes at this action and let off a scream muffled by John's kiss. John pulled his lips from hers and looked at her. Tears were flowing from her eyes which tugged at John's heart, wishing he hadn't caused her any pain. He leaned forward and kissed each tear that was running down her face away, attempting to make it up to her.

After a few minutes of remaining in that position, Cortana gave John a nod, signaling that he could start again.

He started slowly, bringing his length almost all the way out, and then pushing it all the way back in, causing Cortana to wince. He did this for a while until Cortana stopped wincing and started to moan again.

Becoming dissatisfied with the pace, Cortana started telling John, between moans, to go faster and harder, which he complied. Cortana's moans were becoming so load that had they not been intoxicated by bliss, they'd be worried that they might wake everyone else up. But they were, so they weren't. John was being pretty vocal too, letting out grunts of pleasure at every thrust as Cortana's sex seemed to suck him in every time.

John's hands travelled to her sides again for support while Cortana started to buck into his thrusts, increasing their pleasure. Soon she began to feel that same tightening in her lower stomach, and released.

However, John did not feel the same, due to his Spartan stamina, so when Cortana should've relaxed she was already being stimulated again by John's thrusts.

She started to moan John's name for the next several minutes as John continued to thrust into her. Then the familiar tightening occurred for the third time that night. This time she was not alone, as John started to pick up pace, nearing his own climax.

When the tightening finally released for the third time that night, Cortana screamed John's name. The feeling of the release around his member set him off, and after one last thrust, he released himself inside Cortana, screaming her name, and then collapsed to the side of her.

The two of them just stared with loving gazes at each other for a while. Whether it was for seconds, minutes, or hours, neither of them knew, but it ended with four little words.

"I love you Cortana."

"I love you too John."

And with that, John pilled the covers over them, and the two lovers united fell into a blissful sleep, knowing that there was a future for the two of them, away from war, in which they could be happy and in love with each other.

End Chapter

Māori- the indigenous Polynesian people of New Zealand.

Kaumātua- respected tribal elders of either gender in a Māori community appointed by their people who believe the chosen elders have the capacity to teach and guide both current and future generations. Kaumātua are referred to as being the "keepers of knowledge and traditions of the family, sub-tribe and tribe".

A.N.: Wow….. That was a doozy. That, my friends, was my first lemon ever written. I hope you guys enjoy it, because I got blue balls just from writing it. On a slightly unrelated note, did anyone see the Halo 4 trailer? The way Cortana called for John, I think I'm not so far off on her feelings for him. And the way he responded. Definite reciprocation. And Halo is being redone this fall. The bad news is that Halo 4 now throws the legitimacy of this story out the window, but then again that's why it's called fanfiction. Back to the story, I promised you guys a lemon, and you got it. And I threw in a little on Stein, which will help in the plot further down the line. Next chapter will be the tests on the new armor, and then I'll probably time skip to the invasion arc, though I may put filler chapters between if I get enough plot bunnies that fit. I'll put a poll on my profile for that. Well, now I need to go study. If I fuck up the Global Regents tomorrow, I blame you guys. Thanks for reading, please R&R (read and review). Spartan Ninja out.


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer/A.N.: *HEV crashes onto stage. Door pops out and Spartan Ninja steps out casually." Hello peoples! It's your favorite author back from planet ideas and inspiration. You won't believe this, but I came up with so many good ideas that the people there began to fear me, so they stuffed me in an HEV and launched me through a MAC cannon. Ooh, that'll be a good idea for later *scribbles down idea*. Now, down to business. But first, I must say something important. I have, for the past couple of chapters, failed to put in a disclaimer saying that I do not own Halo. That's because I attempted a hostile corporate take-over of 343 Industries and Microsoft. It failed horribly. So I decided to go in guns blazing with my army of hybrids of awesomeness, but it turns out they have down the same as me, so both armies were destroyed, forcing me to retreat and restart the creation of a new, more awesome army. So yeah, I still don't own Halo, but this plot is mine! Now to story related stuff. We're now at 197 reviews. This chapter should take us into the 200s, review wise. I'm so excited! This chapter will also mark the end of the first arc of the story. I would like to know if you guys want me to put something akin to mini-adventures before I start the next arc. They wouldn't affect the plot, they'd just be a little more humor, like Fred and Jai trying to get Maria's photos of them, and maybe some citrus (and not just John and Cortana, if you catch my drift) before things get serious, because I can promise you, once the next arc starts, it'll be at least as long as the story so far, probably longer. So please vote in the poll on my profile for that (and I apologize for not putting it up sooner, I forgot to change one of the options so that it would be displayed. Oops.) . Oh, and if anyone can think of a good way to counter grammar Nazis, because although they may have points, I still want to feed their corpses to the Jackals in my basement. Now I think you've endured enough of me ranting. To make it up to you, there's some citrus in here. Enjoy the chapter.

**A.N. 5/14/12: See bottom for an important message.**

Chapter 11

0727 hours, February 28, 2559 (Military Calendar)/ Home of Doctor Catherine Elizabeth Halsey

In one of the rooms of the home of Dr. C. E. Halsey, two lovers laid together, the larger spooning the smaller, in blissful sleep. As the sun slowly began to rise, the golden rays began to filter through the window, splaying its light upon their faces.

Soon the two lovers began to stir awake. The larger figure turned his head down and planted a kiss on the top of the smaller figures head.

"Morning Cortana," the large figure said. His response was a quiet moan from the woman in her arms as she turned her head to face him with her eyes just cracked open.

"Morning," she said in a tired voice as she returned his kiss with one of her own on his nose. As she started to wake up some more she cringed.

"Are you okay?" John asked Cortana.

She nodded. "Yeah, I'm just hurting down…" she motioned her head to her southern regions. John realized right away what she meant by that and sported a blush.

"I'm sorry Cortana, I didn't mean to hurt you, it's just that it was my first time and I-" he started apologizing profusely but was cut off by Cortana's finger to his lips.

"It's okay John, it's okay. It's supposed to be sore first time around." That allowed John to take a breath of relief. "Although, I am curious to know if this really was your first time? You did everything right last night. I'm just wondering if you've had any, how should I say it, practice?" she said in a teasing tone.

John's mouth was moving but words weren't coming out as he fought to make his thoughts coherent. This only caused Cortana to giggle at his expense. After a few moments John finally gathered his thoughts and said, "Let's just say that the UNSC doesn't put much money into walls between rooms anywhere. Between that and my enhanced hearing, I heard and learned a lot from the marines I was stationed with"

This caused Cortana to go wide eyed for a moment, and then they both burst out laughing.

After the two calmed they laid in companionable silence, John's arms around Cortana's waist and Cortana leaning her head back onto John's shoulder with a grin plastered on her face.

"John?"

"Hm?"

"You really did do amazing last night," John started to blush again. In the last couple of days he'd managed to blush more than he had in the rest of his lifetime. Cortana continued, "Promise me every night you'll make me feel like that."

It was now John's turn to go bug eyed. Did Cortana just ask him for sex EVERY night from now on? That thought was too much for him to process at the moment. Seeing her John struggling with the thought, Cortana decided to "put him at ease".

"I promise I'll make it worth it for you," she said with a sinister grin as her hand started to travel south from John's abs to between his thighs, causing the soldier to stiffen to attention. Slowly she began to pump her hand up it, traveling from base to head and back again. The stimulation made John tilt his head back and release a low, guttural groan that was almost a growl.

Pleased with John's reaction to her ministrations, Cortana decided to go a little further, and slid below the covers which were tented by the soldier under them. The next thing John knew, he felt something soft, wet, and warm at the tip of his member slowly slide down and around it and back up again to the tip, working in sync with Cortana's hand. There was also something strong and moist that was constantly swirling around the tip, adding extra stimulation to the already extremely pleasurable feeling he was feeling in his loins.

In a brief moment of control, John pulled the covers aside, and looked down to see Cortana giving him a hand-blow job as she fingered herself with her free hand. The site below him, coupled with the physical stimulation Cortana was delivering sent him over the edge of control that he'd been clinging onto and into the abyss of ecstasy, groaning all the way down. His release went right into Cortana's mouth, which she swallowed with earnest. She then removed her mouth and hand from the soldier with a loud *slurp*. She then removed her fingers from her core and licked each one by one, causing John's relaxing soldier to stand at attention again.

John just stared as she sat up straight on her knees after finishing the job and said, "I can see why you were so thorough with me last night," as she removed her last finger from her mouth. She then looked down and saw John's member was hard again. She leaned down and gave it a kiss on the tip before getting out of the bed. "I believe that's enough John, don't you think? I hope you can return the favor tonight," she said with her trademark sinister yet playful grin. She then grabbed a towel from their shared dresser and headed into the bathroom. Just before entering she turned her head to face John and said, "You know, the jarheads have quite a stash of materials on the ships, in case you're wondering where I learned my stuff, though they lack when it comes to passwords." She then gave John a wink, her ass a quick shake, and then entered the bathroom. Upon the door closing, running water could be heard, along with what sounded like singing, from inside there.

John was still in a daze from what had just transpired. Cortana had just asked him for sex every night and then proceeded to suck him off, then got him hard again but walked away, leaving him in a rather uncomfortable position. He could now do one of two things. He could either go slip into the shower with Cortana and return the favor now, which he was sure she wouldn't mind despite what she said, or he could wait until tonight and take a cold shower after Cortana to relieve himself of the unpleasant feeling his mini-Spartan was feeling.

He decided to wait, not wanting to risk being caught in the act again. Chances are one thing would lead to another and they'd be back in bed and when they least expect it, Maria would barge in with her camera. And he did not want to end up like Fred and Jai, at the risk of blackmail with compromising pictures. That would not bode well with him.

No he'd wait until tonight when everyone else is (supposedly) asleep as to avoid any unwanted interruptions.

He went to the dresser a grabbed himself a towel and wrapped it around his waist as to save face in case someone did barge in on him before he had a chance to shower and get dressed.

He then stepped over to the glass tube and stand next to it where the Mjolnir Armors resided. He needed something to distract him from the images of Cortana's naked soapy body in the shower and how he wanted to- 'Gah, be gone perverted thoughts, be gone I say,' John thought.

He looked between what was his armor and what was to be his armor. His old armor was covered in nicks, dents, and scratches, each one holding a story from all the fighting between The Invasion of Earth and The Escape from the Ark. The new set was clean, unmarked, and story-less. That was going to change soon. He was sure of that.

As he continued to look between the two he noticed several altercations between the two sets that he hadn't noticed when he first arrived three days ago. First was that the new armor was slimmer. It wasn't terribly so that anyone could notice right away, but in comparison to the Mark VI you could definitely tell the difference. In compensation, however, there was more armor over the less covered areas, most noticeably around the mid-section, neck, and shoulders. He then stepped around and crouched to face the back of the suit and noticed that the power pack on the back had breaks in it, glowing a neon blue that one would normally associate with Covenant weaponry. It made him nervous that this stuff was going to power the suit because of how long he'd had to avoid getting killed by the stuff. But then again, the shields that have saved his life on many occasions came from Covenant technology as well. This put his mind a little more at ease.

At that moment the door to the bathroom opened with one Cortana stepping, with her wet hair plastered to her head and the sides of her face and a towel wrapped around her chest. As she stepped out she noticed John was enraptured looking at the new armor and decided to take advantage of the situation. Quietly she stepped over so that she was right behind him and dropped her towel. She then moved her head to the crook of his neck and gave him a nibble as she looped her arms around his torso and pulled herself into John's back.

"You couldn't feel your Spartan senses tingling," she asked in a playful tone after releasing him from her bite, all the while moving her body up and down John's still crouched form.

"Everything's tingling after what you did to me this morning," he replied with a smirk as he stood up. Unfortunately for Cortana, her arms were still around John's chest and, being as short as she was compared to him, she was lifted off the ground.

"John, let me down, let me down," she yelled in surprise as she hung about half a foot off the ground. His response was to lean forward so she was pulled further from the ground. She started to slide to one side to John's front but just as she let go John stood up straight again, grabbed her rear, and threw her over his shoulders.

"John!" She yelled as she started pounding on his back and flailing her legs.

"Yes," he replied in a drawn out tone.

"Put. Me. DOWN!" She said while she glared daggers over her shoulders at the back of his head.

"If you insist," he said in fake exasperation.

"I do-AAAHHHHH." Cortana's reply was cut off as John lowered her slowly head first. "Pick me up, pick me up, don't let me fall!"

"But you said you wanted to be put down," he replied in false confusion, a smirk plastered on his face.

"Not like this!" she yelled indignantly.

"Will you stop teasing me?" he asked.

"Huh," was Cortana's intelligent reply.

"Will you stop teasing me like you did during this morning's… you know," John said, not wanting to say exactly what happened earlier that morning.

Cortana saw this as another opportunity to have a little fun with, and, despite her better judgment, decided to play dumb.

"Why no John, I don't know. It's seems I've forgotten. Would you care to remind me?"

Not wanting to play that game, John let Cortana slide further over is shoulders causing her to scream until he was just holding her calves.

"Okay, okay, I'll stop teasing you! Now please let me up!"

"You promise," he asked, pulling her back over his shoulder so he could face her.

"Yeah I promise," she said a little dejectedly with a pout on her face.

Finding the women in his arms too irresistible with her pout, John quickly caught her lips in a searing, passionate kiss. Cortana wrapped her legs around John's torso and her arms around his neck so she could pull herself more into the kiss while John wrapped his arms around her bare back to do the same. After three minutes of intense kissing the two broke apart for air.

"Better?" John asked.

"Hm, maybe after tonight," she replied, giving him a quick peck on the lips, causing John to smile.

Before the two lovers could do anything else, there door was opened to reveal…

"Are you sure he'll help Fred," Jai asked as the two walked down the upstairs hallways.

"Of course he will Jai," Fred responded, with a camera around his neck.

"But he saw what happened to us yesterday. He'll probably stay out of it, or even join Maria!" Jai said as they got to their destination.

Fred opened the door as he replied, "No he won't. As the old saying goes, 'bros before-'" Fred cut himself off after opening the door upon seeing what inside their destination.

A John-117 had one nude Cortana with her legs wrapped around his towel-clad form in an intimate embrace. The three people just stood there with the fourth hanging onto one as they stared down at each other.

Fred saw this as a golden opportunity to ensure John would help them by taking a picture and black-mailing John with it. Ah, they had learned well from Maria.

John's Spartan sight saw Fred's hands inch slowly towards the camera hanging from his neck. Realizing what Fred was about to do, his eyes quickly darted around the room for something to throw at or distract Fred.

Nothing.

But then his eyes landed on his old armor and saw that there was still a grenade on the waist.

Using his Spartan reflexes he made a grab for the grenade, without dropping Cortana or falling due to her additional weight, and threw it hard at Fred. It hit him square in the forehead, and then bounced off and hit Jai in the face, knocking both of them backwards, their heads smashing against the wall as they fell. John followed this up by kicking the door closed and locking it.

Cortana's jaw dropped in shock at this act. She climbed off of John and yelled. "John!"

"What?" was his reply.

"Why did you do that?" she asked in a loud, exasperated tone.

"Fred was about to take a picture of us in that… 'position'."

"And you threw a grenade at them for that?"

"Yes?" John said, not getting where she was going with this.

"You could've killed them!" So that was where she was going with this.

"Did you hear a boom?" He asked in turn. Cortana paused a bit before she shook her head. "That's because the pin was still in. They're fine."

Cortana gave him a whack to his arm, which on any normal guy would've made him cringe, but to John he just felt another tingle. "Don't scare me like that," she said.

"No promises," he replied as he approached the hallway door. "You should probably get dressed. We don't want another incident, do we?" Cortana blushed in embarrassment as the thought of what just happened and what John implied caught up to her. She quickly gathered a set of clothes and proceeded to get dressed.

Turning his attention back to the door, the still towel-clad John unlocked the door and stepped outside before quickly closing it again. Looking down he saw the grenade he threw, and picked it up. He then turned his attention to the two Spartans that said item felled only a minute ago. He nudged both of them with his foot, and when they didn't respond he just sighed and re-entered his room.

After hearing the door close, the two supposed knocked-out Spartans regained their bearings and stood up.

"That was a close," said Jai.

"Tell me about. For minute there I thought he was going to kill us, especially when he threw that grenade at us," Fred replied as he rubbed a grenade shaped red mark on his forehead.

"Hey, where's the camera?" Jai asked as he noticed the lack of said item.

"What do you mean where's the- god dammit where's the camera?" Fred said when he came to the same realization as Jai. Feeling himself up and down, he couldn't find it. He turned around to see if it fell off. And sure enough, there it was…

Right where he fell in a million pieces.

"Dammit that was my good camera," Fred yelled. This outburst earned a giggle from somewhere. Fred turned to look at Jai, giving him a questioning look, but he shook his head in response. Then there was another one. It sounded like it was coming down the hall.

With a silent look the two Spartans crept slowly towards the giggling noise. As they turned the corner they saw, to their horror, Maria with a video camera playing what sounded like the events that had just happened outside John's room. But she wasn't alone. Standing right next to her, watching the video, was Kelly.

Seeing that they now had two targets between them and this embarrassing footage that could never ever be leaked, they slowly crept up behind the two. Unfortunately for them, the video just ended, and Maria started to turn around, spotting the two guys. Their cover blown, Fred and Jai dashed the remaining distance to the two female Spartans.

Thinking quickly, Maria pushed the camera into Kelly's hands as she stumbled into the wall while Mike and Jai both tackled Maria.

"Run Kelly, run! You know what to do!" was all Maria managed to say before she got a mouth full of Fred, which she bit.

Getting her order, Kelly made a break for it before Jai and Fred got away from Maria. She couldn't wait to see how Maria's plan worked out.

Back in his room, John headed into the bathroom to finally take the shower he so desired, next to Cortana of course, but that'll be solved tonight.

As the warm water slid down his body it washed over the numerous scars from battles past, some big, some small, each with a story just like his armor. Only you can't change skins.

It also washed away the dried up sweat from last night, as well as any remaining love juices that Cortana hadn't managed to clean up this morning.

In the life of one bred for war he would've never thought he'd be so lucky as to have a partner outside the field of battle that saw beyond the tough Spartan exterior and into the human that lay beneath, as well as one that made him feel as good as she did in both the physical and emotional sense. Cortana was definitely a blessing he'd never take for granted.

After lathering up and rinsing off, John stepped out of the shower and toweled off. He exited the bathroom the same way he entered, with a towel around his waist.

Waiting for him on the bed was Cortana. She was dressed up in a form fitting blue tank top with matching knee length spandex shorts and blue shoes. All of the items had symmetrical dark blue patterns on them, similar to those that marked her old holographic form.

'Halsey sure has quite the sense of humor,' John thought.

"You like," Cortana asked as she stood up and gestured to herself.

"I love," John replied as he stepped towards Cortana and leaned down to give her a quick kiss on the lips.

"I love too," Cortana said, obviously not talking about the clothes anymore as she pulled him back down for another kiss. "Now go get your ass dressed, I'm hungry and need breakfast," she said in mock anger after she broke the kiss.

"Yes ma'am," He replied as he pulled out a green muscle shirt with the Spartan II project insignia on it, green cargo shorts, boxers, socks, and a pair of boots.

After getting dressed, the couple left their room, fingers entwined, towards the stairs that would lead them to the kitchen. As they left they noticed that Fred and Jai had disappeared, and the sound of struggling, as well as a couple masculine whimpers (is that an oxymoron?) could be heard from the opposite direction. Curious as they were, hunger won out, and so they never found out what was happening.

Upon reaching the kitchen they saw, sitting at the counter, was one Dr. Halsey, who none of them had seen since yesterday morning.

"Ah John, perfect timing. I was just about to go upstairs to get you. It's time for you to try out our new toy."

A.N.: Okay, so remember when I said this was going to be the end of the arc? Well, a million plot bunnies came out of their burrows and attacked me, so now next chapter is going to finish the arc. I hope you enjoyed this smexy, fluffy and humorous semi-filler chapter. Onto other business, I apologize for taking so long to put this up. I could go on and on about the reasons why I didn't get to finishing this sooner, but as they say, "Excuses are like butts. Everyone has one and they all stink." I would like to point out though that most of this stuff just came to me, so had it come out earlier it would've been a lot different. And as I mentioned before I have a poll on my profile for whether or not I should go right into the next arc. So far fillers are winning. If it does win I would appreciate you guys giving me suggestions and ideas please. The ones I like best will be used. I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter, because now I have less than six hours to sleep before school starts for me. But hey, that's an author's life, and I promised myself I'd get this chapter out to you guys before my school started. So, here you go. Spartan Ninja out. *drops unconscious*

**A.N. 5/14/12: Hey guys, Spartan here. I just wanted to fill you guys in on some important stuff. To start, no, I am not cancelling the story. John will have his new life. Junior year just came up and beat me like a bitch. A.P. Tests are over now though, so I'll try to start writing. I know I've told several of you when the next chapter was to come out, but didn't and I'm sorry, but again, junior year. Plus, I tried to make a Christmas Special during the holidays, taking away from the next chapter. In the end, neither got done. The special will be out for the next holiday season. Now another important thing, I read Halo Glasslands and Primordum, and a few things are going to need to be adjusted in my plans, some good, some bad. In chapters six and seven, the innie capital has been changed to Venezia, so our friends from Glasslands will appear. I'm also going to have to work on Lucy talking and how Halsey got out. But that'll be filler chapters. Anyway, all that really stands in the way of us and the next chapter is a huge brain fart, so hopefully I'll get it out soon.**


	12. Chapter 12

A.N.: *A figure in active camouflage steps forward and de-cloaks, revealing Spartan*. I'm back! Hello people of the Halo fanfiction universe, your dearly beloved Spartan Ninja is back and ready to write! I am deeply sorry for my long leave of absence, but most of that can all be explained at the bottom of chapter 11, which was just recently edited at the time I originally wrote this, along with a couple of other chapters, but now that's a bit out of date too. There is some important stuff relating to the story there, so I suggest you take a look. To mention one important thing though, due to events in the recently released Halo books, the mission is no longer to Oasis II. It is now to Venezia. So yes, Glasslands and The Thursday War will be part of canon. How? I'll work on that as things progress. While on the issue of canon, Halo 4, while awesome as high holy hell (I got it on the launch day and there was absolutely no line in the store because my school was closed due to Sandy), will not be canon in any shape or form. As of now I'm probably not going to incorporate most of the Forerunner stuff either because that'll just fuck everything up. Also, if anyone is looking for some epic (as in size, not awesomeness, that's for you to decide) Halo stories, look up Spartan IV, Halo 3 Insurrection , and Twenty Nine Seventy One. They're well written yet under-appreciated. There's also my good friend FuryanJedi13 and his story On the Beach which is just a load of lemony goodness between Chief and Cortana which sort of gave me some of the push I needed to make this story what it is now. One final thing. If anyone would like to, would they be willing to draw scenes from the story on deviantart, maybe even a cover since that's a new feature now? If you do, I may be more inclined to give you special favors. *wink wink* *nudge nudge* Now I think I've kept you long enough. So now, after a 22 month hiatus and complete re-do to my idea for this chapter, let us begin!

Disclaimer: I still don't own Halo. I'm still rebuilding my army after my failed assault during the rights transfer between Bungie and 343 Studios. Microsoft ambushed us and it all went to hell. But when I'm finished rebuilding, it shall be mine! MWAHAHAHAHAHA! *coughs* No, I'm not clinically insane. I burned the files and the clinic, so there's nothing anyone can prove. Without further preface, let's get this party started! *pulls out a big red button from a pocket and pushes it, only for nothing to happen* Huh, why isn't this working. *grasps other pocket and pulls out a big blue button* Oh shit, Chief is so not going to be happy now.

Chapter 12

1817 hours, February 28, 2559 (Military Calendar)/ Home of Doctor Catherine Elizabeth Halsey

For most of the day, the home of Catherine Halsey was silent; its residents having vacated the premises to watch one of their own test the newest version of the Mjolnir Armor. That silence ended with a loud explosion coming from about 50 kilometers to the north. About 60 seconds later it was broken again by the sound of metal splintering wood, stone, and furniture, followed by the explosion of a gas stove.

Lying in a crater of what was once the kitchen of Maria's miracles was one out cold John-117, stuck in smoking black, and at certain parts, melted, Mjolnir. The only saving grace for the Spartan was the sink was busted in the crash, cooling the metal with the leaking water.

It was a good ten minutes before he regained consciousness. Shaking his head, he took a moment to check himself.

'Let's see,' he thought. 'Arms, hands, feet, seems like I'm still in one piece; hurt like hell, but still in one piece. Now I just need to get up and…' As he tried to move, he found that, unfortunately, his armor had locked up, probably a result of the impact in order to prevent further injury. Try as he might, he was stuck. With a grunt, he stopped.

'Are the coms still working? Please tell me the coms are still working.' "Cortana, Dr. Halsey, are you there?" Nothing but static. "Can anyone read me? I'm still alive; I'm back at the house." Still no response. "Anyone? Help?"

1817 hours, February 28, 2559 (Military Calendar)/ ONI Weapons and Materials Testing Facility (moments after the explosion)

"The hell was that?" Jai shouted as he regained his senses. Everyone in the observation room was in various states of disorientation from the brief yet intense white light and noise on the monitors.

"It looked like an explosion if I ever saw one," replied Mike replied, clearing his ear out.

"Really, I hadn't guessed that captain obvious," Jai bitingly returned.

"No need to be so hurtful sergeant sarcastic."

"Knock it off the both of you," Adriana said, knocking them over the head in frustration. Noticing the Doctor still recovering, she stepped over to help her up. "Are you okay Doctor."

"I'm fine, thank you Adriana," she said, taking her offered hand to help her get up. Regaining her feet, she removed her glasses and stepped closer to the main monitor. "Right now we should be more concerned about John and why an explosive of that caliber was used during a test." As she was about to continue, Kelly pointed at the screen.

"Look, over there in the upper left hand corner. There's something flying there. I think it's John."

Everyone's attention was drawn to the figure on the monitor that was way up in the air.

"It is John," Fred exclaimed. "He's okay, all things considering."

"Not for long," Linda said nonchalantly, drawing looks from all present save the Doctor. As if to answer their unasked question, she said, "His jet pack is going to run out soon enough. The height he's at, he'll lose control and crash, assuming the atmospheric insertion systems were damaged as badly as it looked by that gauss cannon from before."

Turning back to the screen, Linda prediction unfortunately proved to be true as the figure assumed to be John began to rapidly increase in speed towards the Earth until he was no longer visible on the screen. Everyone cringed at the little dust cloud that popped up.

"What now?" asked Mike.

As if to answer him, a ping went off on the room's intercom. "Speak," Halsey said, obviously upset with how things turned.

"It's Halley, Doctor," the female voice stated. "John's here"

Questioning gazes filled the room.

"Can you please elaborate on that Halley?" Halsey asked.

"I'm not sure I can. John just arrived and is waiting in the kitchen calling for you, and might I say he has left quite the mess." Halsey pinched her brow, not sure whether it was John's luck or Halley's tone that's frustrated her more. A deep breath and a moment to think later and Halsey was on the move.

"Doctor Halsey?" Kelly asked?

"Come on, we have to help John," she said, not breaking her stride. The Spartans followed suit towards the exit.

"Wait, where's Cortana?" Mike asked.

"Ah-hem." Everyone turned to see very miffed Cortana standing behind them, arms crossed over her chest. "Thanks for remembering me guys." She pushed herself to the front of the Spartans. "By the way, it works. I saw everything like used to," she said to Halsey, much calmer than she was two seconds earlier, before continuing forward with her, the Spartans not far behind.

1829 hours, February 28, 2559 (Military Calendar)/ Home of Doctor Catherine Elizabeth Halsey

"Is he okay," Mark asked. All the IIIs had gathered in what was the kitchen not too long ago. They had heard a crash from outside and rushed in to see multiple holes in walls in a straight line, a ruined kitchen, and a set of smoking Mjolnir armor with an occupant that may or may not be fully intact.

"I think so. The armor looks cooked, but not warped, thankfully," Tom said.

Crouched next to the motionless suit, Lucy seemed to be looking for something. "Shush."

"What-," Mark started.

"Shush." Closing her eyes she leaned in closer. For a moment everything was very quiet in the crater. Then Lucy stood up and opened her eyes. "He's conscious."

"How can you tell, he hasn't moved a muscle," Ash asked.

"He's speaking. I can barely hear him though. Speakers must be damaged though."

"Okay, well that's good. So here's the million dollar question: how do we get him out of there?" Olivia questioned. "It's obvious he isn't staying still on purpose. The armor must be busted."

"Well it can't be that hard. It looks like just an extra fancy set of Mjolnir that the UNSC's given us," Kevin said, stepping forward in front of John. "So if I'm right then removing this help should be a piece of…" He grasped the side of the Chief's helmet and tried to twist and yank it off, but to no avail. He put one leg on the Chief's shoulder and tried again, then the other, until his grip slipped and he flew into the opposite wall. Hitting the wall knocked the shelf above him loose, including…

"Cake. That would be so funny if it weren't so sad," said Ash.

"Okay, so pulling it off is out, any other bright ideas?" Olivia asked?

"There should be a welding torch in the hanger," Halle piped in.

A barely audible cry in the negative could be heard coming from the suit.

"I don't think he'd appreciate that," Tom said.

"So what then, we just sit on our asses and wait for the Doctor to deal with this?" Ash asked.

"That's exactly what you should do." Halsey stepped into the crater, drawing a small device from her lab coat. She knelt to the side of John and stuck it a small slot angled toward the inside of the helmet. Removing it, the Armor fell limp, before John raised his arms and removed his helmet.

"No. More. Armor. Tests," John said, taking deep breaths after each word. Even with his luck, third time would not be the charm.

"Don't worry John, I believe we saw enough to prove the armor works quite well now. Definitely much better than the Mark VII that ONI tried making without me," she said under her breath. "I just have one question for you John: do you still have the objective."

John yanked at his chest compartment, partially fused from the heat of the explosion, and pulled out a small data crystal. Before he could do anything though, the crystal was snatched from his hand.

"Thanks John," Kelly said as she ran out of the room, Maria and Linda in tow. A moment later Fred and Jai were seen scrambling after them, trying to figure out where those female demons ran off to.

"I'm not even going ask," John said as he stood up…

Only to receive a slap to the face before being yanked down into a rather forceful kiss. "Don't you dare scare me again like that John, you hear me? Don't you dare do that or even your luck won't save you from me." Cortana looked angry, really angry, as in angry enough to cause an old survival instinct to arise within John.

John held her shoulders in his gauntleted hands and said the three second most important words a guy could say. "I am sorry." Letting those words sink in for a moment, he continued. "I am sorry for scaring you like that. I don't know how or why that I happened, but I will try to be more careful from now on, okay?"

Cortana just crossed her arms and huffed. "Fine. You better work on your combat skills though. You were a bit rusty out there, at least by your standards." A small smile cracked on her face. "Come on, let's find Halsey and get the rest of this armor off you." With that she pulled John from the room in search of the Doctor.

With the main event gone, the remaining Spartans made their way out of the room save for Kevin. A minute later, Mike returned. "I really hope that cake survived. It should be right over…" He saw that the object of is search was now smashed on the head of Kevin, among other things. Disappointed, but not discouraged, he checked that everyone else was gone. When he was sure everything was clear, he grabbed a surviving plate and fork from the wreckage, removed the cake remains from Kevin's head, and removed the debris from the top, wiping it on Kevin's cheek. "Serves him right for almost ruining the cake." He took a bite as he made his way out of the crash zone. "Mmm, still good."

A.N.: Okay, so not my best chapter, but hey, I'm a bit rusty, you know? As I said, Kilo-5 is canon here for the first two books so far. That means Lucy can speak. Yay! Admittedly, that ruins something I had later down the line, but it won't kill me or the story. Also, yes, ONI and the UNSC made the Mark VII already, but it isn't Halsey's Mark VII, like on Reach with Noble Team with their privately produced Mark V. Now then, as of now I'm planning on two more "fillers" before the battle of Venezia arc begins. The first will be a reconciliation of events in the six years John was gone. The second will be lemon loaded with the Spartans. If anyone has any other ideas, let me know in a review or PM. Also, I want to say we are almost a quarter away to 1000 reviews now. Making that would not only be a huge accomplishment for me, but for a Halo writer in general, so let's get it done. But for now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go before-

Cortana: Before what bitch?

*Spartan turns to see Cortana driving Mendez's rocket hog with Chief in the turret, aimed right at him.

SN: And that's my que to go. Read and Review guys. Bye. *disappears in a cloud of smoke just as rockets hit where he was*


End file.
